Amino group functionalized pitch-based carbocatalyst for the Henry reaction of furfural

Abstract

BackgroundTo transform the commodity wastes into high performance materials such as catalyst supports can facilitate the circular economy. Therefore, pitch-based carbon (MPC) which is mainly regarded as a premium carbon byproduct from the petroleum refinery was used to synthesize the supported amino catalyst for the Henry reaction of furfural. MethodsThe amino functionalized pitch-based carbon was prepared by the facile chemical nitration and reduction. The surface textures of the functionalized carbon materials were carefully scrutinized by various characterization techniques, including PXRD, XPS, FT-IR, 13C SSNMR, and Raman spectroscopy. Meanwhile, the amount of surface accessible amino groups was quantified by the colorimetric method using 2-iminothiolane hydrochloride (ITL) as molecular probe. Significant findingThe results reveal that the surface amino groups were immobilized and quantified as 0.391 mmol/g at the periphery of MPC. Moreover, this amino functionalized carbon denoted NRE-MPC could catalyze the Henry reaction of furfural with nitromethane in isopropanol at 90 °C for 6 h to yield 2-(2-nitrovinyl)furan (NVF) as the major product in 65% with 87% furfural conversion. NRE-MPC can be also easily recycled at least four times and the peripheral amino groups alongside the graphitic domains of MPC were still chemically active with perceptible reactivity reduction.