A key challenge in studying the upgrading process for the thermochemical conversion of biomass, such as lignin, is to understand the underlying mechanisms of catalytic conversion at the atomic scale. In this study, a method combined with in situ²H NMR and GC-MS was proposed for investigating the conversion of phenethyl phenyl ether (PPE) in the hydrotreating process, as catalyzed by Pd, Ru, and Pt loaded onto C or γ-Al₂O₃. The results indicated that Pd/γ-Al₂O₃ prefers to produce more ether bond-cleaved products, while Pt prefers to produce more hydrogenation products from PPE. Furthermore, based on this new strategy, a possible reaction mechanism of PPE with Pd/γ-Al₂O₃ was presented from the atomic point of view, showing the potential of this in situ detection method for reaction mechanism studies. Besides, mechanistic investigations by GC-MS were accomplished for the hydrothermal treatment of PPE for comparison with the new method. The results showed that the in situ²H NMR combined with GC-MS provided a deeper understanding of the catalytic mechanism compared to GC-MS alone.

研究生物质（如木质素）热化学转化的升级过程中的关键挑战是了解原子尺度催化转化的潜在机理。在这项研究中，原位² H NMR和GC-MS，提出了用于调查在加氢处理过程苯乙基苯基醚（PPE）的转化，通过钯，钌作为催化，和Pt负载到C或γ-Al系₂ ö ₃。结果表明，钯/γ-Al系₂ ö ₃倾向于产生更多的醚键裂解的产品，同时铂倾向于产生更多的氢化产物从PPE。此外，基于这个新的策略，用Pd /γ-Al系PPE的一个可能的反应机理₂ ö ₃被从视点原子呈现，表示此电位原位反应机理研究的检测方法。另外，通过气相色谱-质谱（MS-MS）对PPE进行水热处理的机理研究与新方法进行了比较。结果表明原位与单独使用GC-MS相比，结合使用² H NMR和GC-MS可以更深入地了解催化机理。