High Efficiency Catalytic Transfer Hydrogenation of Furfural to Furfuryl Alcohol Over Metallic Oxide Catalyst

Development of simple and high performance solid catalysts for the utilization of biomass has become an important research topic in heterogeneous catalysis and sustainable chemistry. Herein, a highly efficient catalytic system was studied for the catalytic transfer hydrogenation of furfural to high value furfuryl alcohol over a series of acidic or basic oxides catalysts. Among those oxides, acidic Al 2 O 3 is identified as the most effective for FAL production, giving a FUR conversion as high as 40% (FUR consumption rate was 186 mmol g cat −1 h −1 ) and FAL selectivity of 99% after only 5 min at 150 °C using 2-propanol as the H-donor and solvent. Furthermore, the as prepared Al 2 O 3 give an Ea value of 15.2 kJ/mol, which is much lower than other complex catalysts in the literatures. Correlating the catalyst performance with its physical and chemical properties uncovers that the large specific surface area and high acidity of Al 2 O 3 would be the key to the catalyst performance. Graphical Abstract