Abstract:
This study deals with the development of an economical,
ZrPO4 mediated, one-step catalytic transformation of biomass-derived furfural
into synthetic intermediates that have the capability to replace the
conventional petrochemical-derived synthetic building blocks. ZrPO4 is
prepared via a highly energy-efficient process at ambient temperature in the
eco-friendly ethanol medium. ZrPO4 exhibits an excellent activity in the
transformation of furfural into furfuryl alcohol via the eco-friendly, safe,
alcohol mediated transfer hydrogenation protocol. Furthermore, furfural is
also efficiently converted into furfural-derived dihydropyrimidinone and 2-
(furan-2-ylmethylene)malononitrile via multicomponent Biginelli and Knoevenagel
condensation reactions, respectively. Moreover, other structurally
homologous biomass-derived reactants such as 5-hydroxymethyl furfural and
2,5-diformyl furan are also compared under the optimized reaction conditions
along with conventional petrochemical-derived reactants such as benzaldehyde
and 1-heptenal. The high activity of ZrPO4 is correlated with the acidity/basicity, pyridine FT-IR measurements, and reactant
adsorption experiments. The catalyst exhibits no significant change in the activity even after five recycles. A non-noble, metal
catalyzed, economical, and sustainable process for furfuryl alcohol production will certainly motivate chemists and researchers. One
simple catalyst affording three functional renewable synthetic intermediates from furfural will attract a significant amount of attention
of catalysis researchers and industrialists.
