Hydrogenation of benzothiophene-free naphthalene over charcoal-supported metal catalysts in supercritical carbon dioxide solvent Original Research Article

Hydrogenation of benzothiophene-free naphthalene was examined over various transition metal (rhodium, ruthenium, palladium, and platinum) catalysts supported on charcoal in supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) solvent at low temperature (313 K). Among these, a charcoal-supported rhodium catalyst was found to be the most active, while a charcoal-supported ruthenium catalyst was found to give the highest cis-decahydronaphthalene (cis-decalin) selectivity. A systematic investigation of hydrogenations of naphthalene and tetrahydronaphthanele (tetralin) in scCO2 revealed that naphthalene hydrogenation is a consecutive and cis- and trans-decalin were formed via tetralin.