Facile production of 2,5-diformylfuran from base-free oxidation of 5-hydroxymethyl furfural over manganese-cobalt spinels supported ruthenium nanoparticles

This work reports manganese-cobalt spinels (MnCo2O4) supported ruthenium (Ru) nanoparticles, Ru/MnCo2O4, efficiently catalyzed 5-hydroxymethyl furfural (HMF) oxidation to 2,5-diformylfuran (DFF) with high yield 98.3% at 130 degrees C and 1.0 MPa of O-2 pressure in toluene used as solvent under base-free conditions. A new class of spinels MnCo2O4 having multiple valence states of Mn and Co was synthesized by using simple co-precipitation method and used as support with ruthenium nanoparticles as heterogeneous catalyst. The reusability tests of catalyst Ru/MnCo2O4 were also carried out and was found to be recyclable up to several consecutive cycles without significance loss of original activity. (C) 2017 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.