Interface reconstruction strategy enabling the efficient light-driven amination of furfuryl alcohol

Abstract

The solar-driven photocatalytic synthesis of furfurylamine, a crucial pharmaceutical and agrochemical precursor, from renewable furfuryl alcohol, represents an energetically sustainable alternative to conventional thermal processes. Despite its promise, direct photocatalytic amination remains largely unexplored, with the current photocatalytic study predominantly focused on oxidation/reduction pathways rather than C–N bond formation. Furthermore, the deployment of biomass photoreforming is severely constrained by insufficient reaction kinetics and unsatisfactory catalytic selectivity. In this study, we present a novel reconstruction strategy to endow the catalyst with abundant active sites and greatly accelerate interfacial charge transfer. The resulting CdS/CoAl(OH)_x-R catalyst achieves an exceptional furfuryl alcohol conversion rate of 76.32% with 94.78% selectivity toward furfurylamine under mild conditions. This work not only provides a practical solution for sustainable furfurylamine synthesis but also offers fundamental insights into interfacial engineering for photocatalytic C–N bond formation.