Renewable Cyclopentanol From Catalytic Hydrogenation-Rearrangement of Biomass Furfural Over Ruthenium-Molybdenum Bimetallic Catalysts

Biomass furfural-like compounds are chemicals that cannot be extracted from fossil materials, through which a large number of fine chemicals and fuel additives can be opened up, but one big efficiency problem during the transformation is the accumulation of oligomers. Here, we propose a novel and efficient Ru-Mo bimetallic catalyst for selective hydrogenation-rearrangement of furfural-like compounds. The result showed that an unprecedented rearrangement product selectivity of 89.1% to cyclopentanol was achieved under an optimized reaction condition over a 1%Ru-2.5%Mo/CNT catalyst reduced at 600 degrees C. Subsequent characterization suggested that the catalyst presented with weak acidity and strong hydrogenation activity for the reaction, which not only ensures the smooth hydrogenation-rearrangement reaction but also inhibits the accumulation of furan polymers. These findings provide a convenient strategy to tune the catalytic performance of Mo-based catalysts by controlling the reduction and carburization conditions, which appear to be versatile for the rearrangement of furans and similar compounds.