Dear Colleagues,

Nowadays, catalytic hydrogenation and hydrogenolysis reactions of renewable biomass and its downstream products, e.g., carbohydrates and platform chemicals in aqueous media are key unit processes in a biorefinery and presents a highly active research field for the development of new processes to manufacture advanced biofuels, bulk and value-added fine chemicals, solvents, materials, pharmaceuticals and even foodstuffs, e.g., trans-free edible fats.

Aqueous-phase catalysis is consistent with six of the twelve principles of Green Chemistry (low E-factors, i.e., high atom economies; use of innocuous solvents; renewable feedstocks; catalytic reagents; designing safer chemicals; inherent safer chemistry especially in exothermic hydrogenation reactions due to the high heat capacity of water) and could play a major role to achieve sustainability in industrial-scale catalytic processes. The highly polar aqueous solvent is the ideal medium to carry out catalytic hydrogenolysis and hydrogenation reactions because of the polarity of biomass and of biomass-derived compounds and enormously accelerates the reaction rates in comparison to organic solvents which is shown by numerous experimental and theoretical investigations, e.g., in the levulinic acid and furfural hydrogenation reactions.

This Special Issue welcomes reports on recent advances in aqueous-phase (transfer) hydrogenation, hydrogenolysis and hydrotreating namely hydrodeoxygenation, hydroisomerization (dewaxing), hydrodecarbonylation and hydrodecarboxylation reactions of all kinds of biomass (lignocellulose, vegetable and tropical oils, fats, terpenes, algae) and all its downstream products (carbohydrates, polyols, triols, e.g., glycerol, diols, aromatic compounds and other platform chemicals such as levulinic acid, furfural, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, succinic acid, etc.) using homogeneous coventional as well as water-soluble catalytic complexes of noble or non-noble metals, biocatalysts, conventional heterogeneous systems, noble or non-noble metal(0) catalytic nanoparticles immobilized on the surface of different solid supports as well as water-dispersible metal(0) catalytic nanoparticles stabilized by polymers in aqueous monophasic, aqueous/organic two-phase systems, micellar systems, thermoregulated phase-transfer systems, emulsions and microemulsions. Emphasis will be also placed in the direct, one-pot catalytic hydrogenolysis reactions of raw biomass without separation of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin and purification of the platform chemicals to obtain industrially relevant intermediates, fuel alkanes and ethanol. Furthermore, this Special Issue also encourages reports on the aqueous-phase catalytic hydrogenation of biomass-derived CO₂ to various chemicals. Within the scope of this Special Issue are all aspects related to these catalytic reactions, e.g., development and characterization of new catalysts, physico-chemical, mechanistic and theoretical investigations, reactor engineering, recovery and recycling of catalysts and scale up of the reactions.

Prof. Dr. Georgios Papadogianakis
Prof. Dr. Roger A. Sheldon
Prof. Dr. Dmitry Yu. Murzin
Prof. Dr. Yulong Wu
Prof. Dr. Reinout Meijboom
Guest Editors

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• catalysis (homogeneous, heterogeneous, biocatalysis) 
• hydrogenation, hydrogenolysis, hydrodeoxygenation 
• cascade reactions 
• water, aqueous medium, green/sustainable chemistry 
• biorefinery 
• biomass (lignocellulose, vegetable and tropical oils, fats, terpenes, algae, sludge, agricultural wastes) 
• carbohydrates, polyols, glycerol, diols, aromatics, bio‑oil 
• platform chemicals (levulinic acid, furfural, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, succinic acid) 
• development of catalysts 
• reaction engineering