Front Cover: Bromine Substitution of Organic Modifiers Fixed on a Titanium(IV) Oxide Photocatalyst: A New Strategy Accelerating Visible Light‐Induced Hydrogen‐Free Hydrogenation of Furfural to Furfuryl Alcohol (ChemCatChem 5/2022)

Abstract

The Front Cover shows chemoselective hydrogenation of furfural (FAL) to furfuryl alcohol (FOL) over nine kinds of organically modified TiO2 (OM/TiO2’s) under irradiation of visible light without the use of hydrogen gas (H2). In their Full Paper, Y. Yamamoto et al. show that all OM/TiO2’s produced FOL and a linear relation between the reaction rate and amount of FAL adsorbed on the OM/TiO2’s was observed. Among them, OM/TiO2’s having bromine (Br)-substituted 2,3-naphthalenediol (NDO) exhibited larger reaction rates and the rate increased with an increase in the number of Br groups. These results revealed that substitution of hydrogen atoms of organic modifiers with Br is a simple but effective method for increasing the photocatalytic activity. The explored 1,4,6-tribromo-2,3-NDO-modified TiO2 also showed a high performance in H2-free chemoselective reduction of benzaldehydes having reducible groups to corresponding benzyl alcohols. More information can be found in the Full Paper by Y. Yamamoto et al.