In Situ Synthesis of Highly Dispersed Cu-Co Bimetallic Nanoparticles for Tandem Hydrogenation/Rearrangement of Bioderived Furfural in Aqueous-Phase

Herein, we report that highly dispersed copper-cobalt mixed metal/metal oxide nanoparticles embedded into three-dimensional porous carbon were highly catalytic active nanocomposites for transforming bioderived furfural (FAL) to cyclopentanone (CPO) via aqueous-phase hydrogenation/rearrangement. This simple and efficient catalyst was prepared by controlled pyrolysis procedure using glucose as the carbon source at 500 degrees C under N-2 atmosphere. Characterization of the as prepared CuCo0.8@PC-500 catalyst by XRD, STEM, SEM, TEM, and XPS suggested that there was a synergism between copper and cobalt. Under an extremely low H-2 pressure (0.5 MPa), 90.2% yield of CPO could be attained at 150 degrees C. In addition, the sample could be recycled for several times without decrease in catalytic activity. Two critical reaction intermediates of furfuryl alcohol (FOL) and 2-cyclopentenone (2-CPE) were detected in the tandem catalytic process. These results demonstrated that this synthetic strategy represented a simple and effective way for utilization of inexpensive biomass resources to obtain some valuable chemicals.