Generally, there are two usual methods for the production of SAN in industry; one is the dehydration ofsuccinic acid and the other is the catalytic hydrogenation of maleic acid (shown in the Figure 1). For thesuccinic acid dehydration, Fieser found that the reaction could be performed at a temperature of 220 to270C in the presence of dehydrating agents.18 Next, Chen et al.19 employed H PO /Nb O $nH O as 34252the catalyst to promote the dehydration of succinic acid, in which ca. 80% yield of SAN was obtained with cyclohexanone as the solvent. This dehydration process is usually carried out at high temperatures, resulting in high energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission. In the case of the maleic anhydride hydrogenation, the reaction needs to be achieved with the supported transition metal catalysts which include the palladium catalyst,20,21 nickel catalyst,22–30 copper catalyst,31 bimetallic Ni-Pt catalyst,32 and so on. Compared with the succinic acid dehydration route, the selective hydrogenation of maleic anhydride can reduce the energy consumption by performing reactions using solid catalysts at a relatively lo