Regioselectivity and Reaction Mechanism of Ru-Catalyzed Hydrogenolysis of Squalane and Model Alkanes.

The dependence of the C-C hydrogenolysis activity on reaction parameters and the structure of the substrate alkanes was investigated for Ru/CeO catalyst with very small (dispersion: H/Ru=0.89) Ru particles. The substrate concentration and reaction temperature did not have a significant effect on the selectivity pattern, except that methane production was promoted at high temperatures.

Catalytic production of branched small alkanes from biohydrocarbons.

Squalane, C30 algae-derived branched hydrocarbon, was successfully converted to smaller hydrocarbons without skeletal isomerization and aromatization over ruthenium on ceria (Ru/CeO2 ). The internal CH2 CH2 bonds located between branches are preferably dissociated to give branched alkanes with very simple distribution as compared with conventional methods using metal-acid bifunctional catalysts.