A sulfonic acid-functionalized silica-supported ruthenium catalyst (Ru/SiO2–SO3H) was employed for the hydrogenolysis of cellulose in one pot in neutral water medium. Ru/SiO2–SO3H is a bifunctional catalyst containing both a Brønsted acidic site and a metal site (Ru). Compared with the mechanical mixture of a silica-supported Brønsted acid (SiO2–SO3H) and a silica-supported Ru catalyst (Ru/SiO2), the bifunctional catalyst showed much higher yield of sorbitol, which could reach up to 61.2% when the reaction was performed for 10 h at 150 °C. Through the characterization by XPS and pyridine-adsorbed FT-IR, the existence of the interaction between sulfonic groups and Ru nanoparticles in the Ru/SiO2–SO3H catalyst was observed. The sulfonic acid groups and metal sites in the adjacent position were important for enhancing the yield of sorbitol. In addition, the present catalyst can be reused five times with only a slight decrease in yield of sorbitol in the consecutive recycles.
