Chinese Journal of Catalysis ›› 2016, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (10): 1669-1675.DOI: 10.1016/S1872-2067(16)62458-0

• Communications • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Highly selective supported gold catalyst for CO-driven reduction of furfural in aqueous media

Jing Donga,b, Mingming Zhua, Gaoshuo Zhanga, Yongmei Liua, Yong Caoa, Su Liub, Yangdong Wangb   

  1. a Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Catalysis and Innovative Materials, Department of Chemistry, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China;
    b SINOPEC Shanghai Research Institute of Petrochemical Technology, Shanghai 201208, China
  • Received:2016-04-14 Revised:2016-05-10 Online:2016-10-21 Published:2016-10-22
  • Supported by:

    This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21273044, 21473035, 91545108), the Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education (2012007000011), SINOPEC (X514005), Science & Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (08DZ2270500), and the Open Project of State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering (SKL-ChE-15C02).

Abstract:

The reductive transformation of furfural (FAL) into furfuryl alcohol (FOL) is an attractive route for the use of renewable bio-sources but it suffers from the heavy use of H2. We describe here a highly efficient reduction protocol for converting aqueous FAL to FOL. A single phase rutile TiO2 support with a gold catalyst (Au/TiO2-R) that used CO/H2O as the hydrogen source catalyze this reduction efficiently under mild conditions. By eliminating the consumption of fossil fuel-derived H2, our process has the benefit afforded by using CO as a convenient and cost competitive reducing reagent.

Key words: Furfural, Reduction, Supported gold catalyst, Carbon monoxide, Aqueous