N-doped porous carbon catalyst

Metal-free lignin cleavage

A nitrogen-doped carbon catalyst replaces metal catalysts, enabling oxidative cleavage of C-C and C-O bonds in lignin under mild conditions, reusable and scalable.

Shuxiao, Huo · Miao, Meng · Yu, Xiangzhu · Shaowei, Liu · Wang, Lianyue

Applied Catalysis A: General 2026

Specifications

Reusability cycles

{'zh': '7', 'en': '7'}

Advantages

Metal-free

The catalyst, derived from ZIF-8, contains only carbon and nitrogen, avoiding metal contamination in products and suitability for downstream fine chemical synthesis.

Mild yet efficient

Quantitative conversion of the model compound to phenol is achieved at 60 °C under an atmospheric oxygen balloon, without high temperature, pressure, or strong oxidants.

Reusable catalyst

The catalyst retains high activity after seven consecutive runs, reducing operational costs.

Scalable process

Gram-scale experiments demonstrate practicality, showing potential for industrial application.

Applications

• Lignin depolymerization：Cleaves lignin model compounds into phenols and esters under mild conditions, replacing metal catalysts.
• Biomass conversion：Converts lignin, a biomass component, into value-added aromatic chemicals.
• Green catalysis：Uses metal-free carbon catalyst and oxygen as oxidant, reducing toxic reagents.