Porous Zirconium Hydroxyphosphonoacetate: Catalyst for Conversion of Furfural into Furfuryl Alcohol

Abstract

Abstract Catalytic transfer hydrogenation (CTH) of the C=O bond has been considered to be one of the most important processes for the synthesis of fuels and chemicals. In this study, zirconium hydroxyphosphonoacetate (Zr‐HPAA) was synthesized by solvent‐thermal method for the transfer hydrogenation of furfural (FF) to furfuryl alcohol. As expected, the Zr‐HPAA, which comprises P−O‐Zr and C−O‐Zr linkages, shows high activity for catalytic transfer hydrogenation of FF to FA. Besides, the effects of time, temperature, catalyst dosage and solvent on the reaction were investigated in detail, with FF conversion (98%) and FA yield (96%) at 150 °C in 1.5 h. The activation energy (Ea) of the reaction was calculated as 47.04 kJ/mol and the lower activation energy was associated to the high catalytic activity of Zr‐HPAA. It is easy to separate catalyst after the reaction and the catalyst exhibits high activity for at least five reaction cycles.