Efficient Oxidation of Furfural to Furancarboxylic Acid over CuO-MnCO3 Catalyst

Graphical We report an example of the oxidation of furfural to furancarboxylic acid using NaClO as the oxidant, under heterogeneous catalyst and room temperature conditions. This reaction system is rapidly reactive and suitable for the large-scale production. It is of great significance to efficiently produce furancarboxylic acid (FA) by furfural oxidation at room temperature. Here in, based on an available CuO-MnCO 3 bimetallic catalyst, an efficient and sustainable heterogeneous catalyst system in sodium hypochlorite solution was designed to be served for the selective oxidation of furfural to FA. Interestingly, Cu 6 -Mn 4 showed 100 % furfural conversion and quantitative selectivity to FA (96.9 %). Especially, we demonstrate the CuO exhibited main catalytic performance in this experiment. In particular, the introduction of MnCO 3 into Cu-Mn catalyst resulted in an increase reactivity of the lattice oxygen in the catalyst. More importantly, Cu 6 -Mn 4 also showed excellent stability in reusability test. This study provides a simple and rapid catalytic strategy and scientific basis for the development of an efficient and mild aerobic oxidation of furfural.