Synergistic bimetallic RuMo catalysts for selective rearrangement of furfural to cyclopentanol in aqueous phase

Recently, it has been noticed that cyclopentanol, a versatile compound under heavy demand, could be alternative produced by hydrogenation rearrangement from biomass furfural. In this work, the design of synergistic ruthenium‑molybdenum bimetallic catalysts (RuMo/CNT) was firstly reported for the selective rearrangement of furfural to cyclopentanol in aqueous phase. Interestingly, the result clearly illustrated the significance of the catalyst reduction which tuned the metal/acid bifunctional roles and affected the catalytic performance. An unprecedented quantitative furfural conversion and high rearrangement selectivity (complete conversion, 74% selectivity to cyclopentanol, 9% selectivity to cyclopentanone) were achieved under the optimized condition over RuMo/CNT. Subsequently, detailed characterizations (N2-adsorption, XRD, HRTEM, XPS, H2-TPR, NH3-TPD, etc.) were performed over relevant catalysts for correlating their catalytic and physicochemical properties. [Display omitted] •RuMo catalyst for the selective rearrangement of furfural to cyclopentanol•Reduction temperatures affect the catalytic performance.•Complete furfural conversion and 74% selectivity to cyclopentanol