A Bimetallic Ru3Sn7 Nanoalloy on ZnO Catalyst for Selective Conversion of Biomass-Derived Furfural into 1,2-Pentanediol

Chemoselective hydrogenolysis of biomass-derived feedstocks into chemicals is one of the most challenging transformations for upgrading biomass over noble-metal-based heterogeneous catalysts. Here, we demonstrate the use of an efficient Ru3Sn7 alloy-supported ZnO catalyst (Ru-Sn/ZnO) to convert biomass-derived furfural (FF) by selective formation of 1,2-pentanediol (1,2-PDO). We found that 1,2-PDO can be produced with a very high yield (>84%) while limiting the competitive formation of 1,5-PDO (yield of ∼12%) and other side hydrogenation reactions during FF hydrogenolysis. The new catalyst showed excellent catalytic performance and catalyst reusability when tested for up to five consecutive cycles without any significant deactivation. The remarkable performance of Ru-Sn/ZnO for selective formation of 1,2-PDO from FF was attributed to the combined effect of Ru3Sn7 alloy phases together with tin oxide species on a basic ZnO support. All the tested catalysts were thoroughly characterized through different characterization techniques to confirm the synergy of the active sites in the Ru-Sn/ZnO combination and its effectiveness for selective formation of 1,2-PDO. In addition, a possible reaction mechanism is proposed based on density functional theory calculations and their correlation with experimental results.