Magnetic Nanoparticles Supported on g‐C3N4 : An Efficient Heterogeneous Catalyst for Selective Transfer Hydrogenation of Furfural to Furfuryl alcohol

Abstract A series of economic and environmental benign g‐C 3 N 4 supported magnetic ferrite nanoparticles (Fe 3 O 4 @g‐C 3 N 4 ) were synthesized for the catalytic transfer hydrogenation of furfural (FF) into furfuryl alcohol (FFA) using ethanol as a source of hydrogen donor and solvent. The unique feature of high nitrogen content and locally conjugated structure of the g‐C 3 N 4 have made it excellent support for loading of small sized ferrite nanoparticles. Excellent furfural conversion of 95.6 % was obtained with 100 % selectivity of the required product furfuryl alcohol over this Fe 3 O 4 @g‐C 3 N 4 nanoparticles having mass ratio 0.2 of Fe 3 O 4 @g‐C 3 N 4 . The high surface properties, uniform dispersion of ferrite and very high ability of adsorption of furfural over g‐C 3 N 4 attributed to the effective catalytic activity. The effect of iron content, catalyst amount, solvent, temperature and reaction time on the CTH of furfural were studied. The synthesized catalysts were characterised by various physic‐chemical, spectroscopic and microscopic techniques.