Quercetin-Zirconium: A Green and Highly Efficient Catalyst for the Meerwein-Ponndorf-Verley Reduction of Furfural

The utilization of renewable raw materials to synthesize functional solid catalytic materials is a very attractive topic. Herein, an amorphous Quercetin-Zr catalyst was synthesized by using quercetin and ZrCl4 as raw materials. Quercetin-Zr had excellent catalytic transfer hydrogenation activity and can efficiently convert furfural to furfuryl alcohol and obtain a 97.9% yield of furfuryl alcohol after 1.5 h at 120 degrees C. Systematic characterization established the existence of a large amount of Lewis acid-base couple sites (Zr4+-O2--) in quercetin-Zr, which maximized furfuryl alcohol production through acid-base synergistic catalysis. [GRAPHICS] .

Automated summary

The utilization of renewable raw materials to synthesize functional solid catalytic materials is an attractive topic. In this study, an amorphous Quercetin-Zr catalyst was synthesized using quercetin and ZrCl4, which exhibited excellent catalytic activity and high yield of furfuryl alcohol.