Boron doped magnetic catalysts for selective transfer hydrogenation of furfural into furfuryl alcohol

A series of boron doped magnetic zirconium catalysts were developed for the selective transfer hydrogenation of biomass-derived furfural (FFR) into furfuryl alcohol (FA) using 2-propanol as hydrogen source and solvent. Full characterizations with XRD, SEM, TG, Py-IR, NH3-TPD, and CO2-TPD techniques were undertaken to uncover structural properties of magnetic catalysts. Boron doped magnetic zirconium catalysts endowing with adjustable acid-base sites exhibited excellent performance as well as good regenerability in the transfer hydrogenation of FFR, where almost 100% FA yield was achieved in the presence of 2-propanol and the catalyst still sustained good activity after being used five times. Suitable acidity/ basicity ratio of 3.8 similar to 4.0 apparently benefited the selective production of FA. Gratifyingly, the activation energy for FA formation over Zr1B3FeO was as low as 48.3 kJ/mol. In addition, plausible reaction mechanism involving two H-transfer paths for transfer hydrogenation of FFR into FA under the catalysis of active Zr/B species was proposed. (c) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.