Magnesium oxide-supported potassium hydride as a transition-metal-free catalyst for the selective hydrogenation of alkynes

Catalytic hydrogenation of alkynes to alkenes is pivotal in both petrochemical and fine chemical industries. Its implementation relies on the use of transition metals, especially those precious Pd-based catalysts. In this work, we utilize a melt infiltration method to prepare magnesium oxide-supported potassium hydride (KH/MgO), which is illustrated as a transition-metal-free catalyst for selective hydrogenation of alkynes. H₂-D₂ exchange experiment proves that dihydrogen activation and dissociation on KH/MgO is plausible at room temperature and ambient pressure. KH/MgO catalyzes hydrogenation of diphenylacetylene (DPA) already at 40 ℃, implying its high intrinsic activity at very mild conditions. Under an optimized condition of 80°C, 2 bar H₂, and 40 h, 75 % conversion of DPA is achieved, affording 82 % selectivity to stilbenes. Mechanistic study suggests that surface hydride on KH/MgO plays an important role toward dihydrogen activation, and involved in the hydrogenation step to form stilbenes. This work shows the promise for using light metal hydrides consisting of earth-abundant elements as alternative hydrogenation catalysts.