Catalytic transfer hydrogenation of furfural via metal-organic framework-derived high entropy alloy catalysts at room pressure

Abstract

Catalytic transfer hydrogenation (CTH), as an environmentally friendly selective hydrogenation method, has attracted great interest in the preparation of high value-added products from biomass-derived resources. Herein, the carbon-based high-entropy alloy (HEA) catalysts (PtCoNiCuZn@NC-X) were prepared via MOF derivatization, which exhibited good catalytic behavior for the CTH of furfural (FF) with isopropyl alcohol (IPA) as the hydrogen donor. The conversion of FF and selectivity of furfuryl alcohol (FOL) reached 100% at 100 °C without additional pressure via PtCoNiCuZn@NC-600 catalyst. Systematic characterization suggests that the abundance of strong acidic sites, high content of high-valent metals and appropriate alloy surface composition play a crucial role in determining the catalytic behavior. This work confirms the multi-sites synergistic catalysis of HEA, establishing structure-property correlations and revealing reaction pathways that can be extended to other CTH reactions in biomass upgrading processes.