Fuel-like hydrocarbons (also known as biofuel) isolated from the deoxygenation of fatty acids present different advantages as compared with fossil fuels. In particular, the homogeneous and heterogeneous catalytic deoxygenation methods have been the center of attention during recent years. Although catalytic deoxygenation of fatty acids via heterogeneous catalysis has been widely investigated, there is a high demand to review the progress in using the homogeneous catalysis pathways. Among the various homogeneous pathways, radical-based reactions and transition metal catalysis demonstrate the most promising results in the decarboxylation and decarbonylation processes. It is shown that radical-based reactions are more active in decarboxylation meanwhile the transition metal catalysts are rather selective to decarbonylation of fatty acids. Besides, the reaction conditions and type of catalysts are capable of enhancing biofuel production. Homogenous catalysis provides the huge potential for commercializing viability of biofuel via deoxygenation of fatty acids.

与化石燃料相比，从脂肪酸脱氧中分离出的类燃料碳氢化合物（也称为生物燃料）具有不同的优势。特别地，近年来，均相和非均相催化脱氧方法已成为关注的焦点。尽管已经广泛地研究了通过非均相催化对脂肪酸进行催化脱氧，但是仍然需要审查使用均相催化途径的进展。在各种均相途径中，基于自由基的反应和过渡金属催化在脱羧和脱羰过程中显示出最有希望的结果。结果表明，基于自由基的反应在脱羧反应中更具活性，同时过渡金属催化剂对脂肪酸的脱羰反应具有较高的选择性。除了，反应条件和催化剂类型能够提高生物燃料的产量。均相催化通过脂肪酸的脱氧为生物燃料的可行性商业化提供了巨大的潜力。