Hydrogenation of levulinic acid (LA) represents a significant approach for producing the high-value biomass-based platform compound γ-valerolactone (GVL). In this study, an efficient RuIr alloy bimetallic catalyst supported on SiC was synthesized and applied for the aqueous hydrogenation of LA into GVL under mild conditions. The RuIr/SiC catalyst exhibited high LA conversion and GVL selectivity (both > 99%) in water at 0.2 MPa H₂ pressure and 25 °C. The excellent performance is attributed to the synergistic interaction between Ru and Ir nanoparticles on the semiconducting SiC support. Furthermore, the catalytic activity of the RuIr/SiC alloy remained basically unchanged after five cycles, confirming the high stability of the bimetallic alloy catalyst.

The hydrogenation of levulinic acid (LA) is an important route to prepare high-value biomass-based platform compound γ-valerolactone (GVL). Herein, a highly efficient RuIr alloy bimetallic catalyst supported on SiC for the aqueous hydrogenation of levulinic acid (LA) into γ-valerolactone (GVL) under mild conditions. The RuIr/SiC catalyst exhibited a high LA conversion and GVL selectivity (both >99%) in water under 0.2 MPa H2 pressure at 25 oC. The excellent performance is due to the synergistic effect of Ru and Ir nanoparticles on the semiconducting SiC. Moreover, the activity of RuIr/SiC alloy catalyst did not change significantly after 5 cycles, indicating that the bimetallic alloy catalyst has high stability.

Pd nanoparticles (Pd/SiC) with a main exposed plane of Pd (111) were prepared by liquid phase reduction. The use of formaldehyde as a methylation reagent for the photocatalytic methylation of aromatic nitro compounds to N,N-methylaniline resulted in one-pot methylations of aromatic nitro compounds with high photocatalytic activity and selectivity under mild reaction conditions. The high catalytic activity of Pd/SiC in N-methylation reactions arises from the Mott–Schottky contact between Pd and SiC, which promotes the transfer of photogenerated electrons to Pd. The high selectivity is ascribed to the ability of Pd nanoparticles to catalyze the hydrogenation of nitro groups to amino groups, which subsequently undergo direct methylation with formaldehyde, bypassing the intermediate formylation step.