Selective catalytic hydroalkylation and deoxygenation of substituted phenols to bicycloalkanes

Phenol and substituted phenols are hydroalkylated and hydrodeoxygenated to bi-cycloalkanes in a tandem reaction over Pd nanoclusters supported on a large-pore molecular sieve HBEA at 473–523 K using water as solvent. The HBEA-supported Pd catalyst (metal–acid ratio: 1:22 mol/mol) optimally balances the competing rates of metal catalyzed hydrogenation as well as of solid acid-catalyzed dehydration and carbon–carbon coupling to combine...