Pyruvic acid and pyruvate derivatives are important chemical intermediates which are normally produced using metal-based catalytic materials that could cause serious environmental problems. In the present work, renewable nanocarbon catalysts are applied in this system, and a solvent free and highly selective oxidative dehydrogenation of ethyl lactate (EL) process is achieved to produce ethyl pyruvate (EP) under mild reaction conditions. Chemical titration results provide direct evidence that ketonic carbonyl groups on nanocarbon are active sites for this reaction. Raman, XPS and model catalyst experimental results have shown that there is a dynamic transformation between defects and oxygen functionalities during the catalytic reactions. The reaction pathway is revealed via kinetic analysis, which may shed light on the rational design of carbon catalysts and their potential catalytic applications in the field of fine chemical productions.

丙酮酸和丙酮酸衍生物是重要的化学中间体，通常使用金属基催化材料生产，可能会导致严重的环境问题。在当前的工作中，可再生的纳米碳催化剂被应用在该系统中，并且在温和的反应条件下实现了无溶剂的乳酸乙酯（EL）工艺的高度选择性氧化脱氢以生产丙酮酸乙酯（EP）。化学滴定结果提供了直接的证据，表明纳米碳上的酮羰基是该反应的活性位点。Raman，XPS和模型催化剂的实验结果表明，在催化反应过程中，缺陷和氧官能团之间存在动态变化。通过动力学分析揭示了反应途径，