Selective hydrogenation of furfural to tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol over a Rh-loaded carbon catalyst in aqueous solution under mild conditions

We describe the selective hydrogenation of furfural (FAL) into tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol (THFA) under mild conditions (30 C) in aqueous media using an Rh-loaded carbon (Rh/C) catalyst in a one-pot fashion. In FAL hydrogenation, the Rh/C catalyst showed a high THFA yield (92%) with 93% selectivity in aqueous media within 12 h, whereas the use of a dimethylacetamide (DMA) solvent system resulted in a 95% THFA yield within 32 h at 30 C. The study of the effect of the solvent on FAL hydrogenation reveals that polar solvents showed higher THFA yields than a toluene solvent. The Rh/C catalyst used in this study exhibited higher activity compared to Ru/C, Pd/C, Ni/C derived from Ni-based metalorganic framework (Ni-MOF), and Ni-loaded carbon black (Ni/CB) catalysts in FAL-to-THFA hydrogenation. The Rh/C catalyst is characterized in detail using various characterization techniques such as TEM, XRD, N 2 -adsorptiondesorption, XPS, and ICP-OES to understand its physicochemical properties. The Rh/C catalyst shows similar high THFA yields in the recycling experiment of FAL hydrogenation under ambient conditions. We describe the selective hydrogenation of furfural (FAL) into tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol (THFA) under mild conditions (30 C) in aqueous media using a Rh-loaded carbon (Rh/C) catalyst in a one-pot fashion.