Although the development of metal nanoparticle catalysts for organic synthesis has been widely studied, the catalytic potential of “metal phosphide nanoparticles” has little been studied. Herein, we describe that nickel phosphide nanoparticles (Ni₂P NPs) act as a highly efficient heterogeneous catalyst for the selective transformation of biofuranic aldehydes into diketones, which is a useful biorefining technology. The biofuranic aldehydes are hydrogenated in water without any additives, giving the corresponding diketones in high yields. The catalytic performance of Ni₂P NPs demonstrated here is significantly different from conventional Ni(0) and NiO NPs, and other metal phosphide NPs, which show no activity, indicating the unique catalysis of Ni₂P NPs. Spectroscopic analyses showed that bifunctional Ni₂P NP catalysis combining their hydrogen-activating ability and surface acidity plays a crucial role, leading to the transformations of selective biofuranic aldehydes.

中文翻译：

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磷镍纳米粒子的独特催化作用，以促进水中生物呋喃醛向二酮的选择性转化

尽管已经广泛研究了用于有机合成的金属纳米颗粒催化剂的开发，但是很少研究“金属磷化物纳米颗粒”的催化潜力。在本文中，我们描述了磷化镍纳米颗粒（Ni ₂ P NPs）作为高效的非均相催化剂，用于将生物呋喃醛选择性转化为二酮，这是一种有用的生物精制技术。生物呋喃醛在没有任何添加剂的情况下在水中氢化，从而以高收率得到相应的二酮。此处展示的Ni ₂ P NPs的催化性能与常规的Ni（0）和NiO NPs以及其他无活性的金属磷化物NPs明显不同，表明Ni ₂的独特催化作用P NP。光谱分析表明，双功能Ni ₂ P NP催化结合其氢活化能力和表面酸度起着至关重要的作用，导致选择性生物呋喃醛的转化。