Selective hydrogenolysis of carbon-oxygen bonds with formic acid over a Au-Pt alloy catalyst.

We reported selective hydrogenolysis of carbon-oxygen species over a CeO2-supported Au-Pt alloy catalyst (Au-Pt/CeO2) using biomass-derived formic acid as the hydrogen source. The success of this reaction is reasonably attributed to the high efficiency of Au-Pt/CeO2 in the tandem steps of formic acid dehydrogenation and carbon-oxygen species hydrodeoxygenation.