Effects of Aqueous Phase Environment on Phenol Hydrogenation over Pt and Ni Catalysts

In the present work, we addressed the fundamental question of how the aqueous phase influences adsorption and hydrogenation of aromatic rings on noble and base metal catalysts.  We found that the aqueous phase strongly influences the cyclohexanone selectivity from phenol hydrogenation via facilitating keto/enol isomerization of surface bound intermediate.