Methanol is an important platform molecule for chemical synthesis and its high energydensity also renders it a good candidate as a cleaner transportation fuel. At present, methanolis manufactured from natural gas via the indirect syn-gas route. Here we show that ethyleneglycol, a versatile chemical derived from biomass or fossil fuels, can be directly converted tomethanol in hydrogen with high selectivity over a Pd/Fe_2O_3 co-precipitated catalyst. Thisopens up a possibility for diversification in natural resources for energy-starved countries. Theworking catalyst contains extremely small ‘PdFe’ clusters and metal adatoms on defective ironoxide to give the required metal-support interaction for the novel synthesis.
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