Issue 12, 2024

Mild and selective transfer hydrogenation of biomass-derived furfural to furfuryl alcohol over Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 with methanediol as the hydrogen donor

Abstract

A new catalytic transfer hydrogenation (CTH) strategy was developed for the continuous conversion of furfural (FF) into furfuryl alcohol (FFA) with Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 (CZA) as the catalyst under mild conditions. Methanediol was used as the hydrogen donor without any hazardous gas emission. FF was converted into FFA with up to 99% selectivity at 108 °C and normal pressure under an N2 atmosphere. The highly dispersive copper species (Cu0, Cu+) with few Lewis acidic sites and η1(O)-type adsorption ensured high selectivity and mild conversion. Deuterium-labelling experiments revealed that, in the presence of formaldehyde, water is split into hydrogen species, which can reduce FF to form FFA. A reasonable reaction mechanism for the conversion of FF into FFA via transfer hydrogenation was proposed. Notably, this strategy offers a new route to splitting water to generate in situ “green hydrogen” for the hydrogenation of unsaturated organic compounds under mild conditions based on non-noble heterogeneous catalysts.

Graphical abstract: Mild and selective transfer hydrogenation of biomass-derived furfural to furfuryl alcohol over Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 with methanediol as the hydrogen donor

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
11 Jan 2024
Accepted
07 May 2024
First published
07 May 2024

Green Chem., 2024,26, 7132-7139

Mild and selective transfer hydrogenation of biomass-derived furfural to furfuryl alcohol over Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 with methanediol as the hydrogen donor

S. Cheng, Q. Lei, C. Deng, L. Liang, Y. Chen, H. Meng, W. Lei and H. Chen, Green Chem., 2024, 26, 7132 DOI: 10.1039/D4GC00160E

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