Favourable hydrogenation of pyridines via H₂-adsorption modulation on Ni nanoparticles in dealuminated Beta zeolite

Abstract Hydrogenation of pyridines is particularly challenging because their strong coordination to metal sites hinders hydrogen adsorption and can poison the catalysts. Here we show that Ni nanoparticles (NPs) within zeolite crystals can overcome this problem, owing to a network of micropores that features a greater proportion of free Ni sites for hydrogen adsorption even in the presence of pyridines. As a result, a high activity was achieved under mild conditions, substantially outperforming.