Donor activity of sub- and supercritical primary alcohols in catalyst-free and Ni/γ-Al2O3 catalyzed transfer hydrogenation of furfural.

Sub- and supercritical alcohols are known as effective hydrogen donors. In this work, transfer hydrogenation (TH) of furfural with C 1 -C 4 alcohols has been studied under sub- and supercritical conditions. In the range of 230–275 °C, the observed activation energy of catalyst-free transformations of furfural into furfuryl alcohol and some minor byproducts has been shown to be 98 ± 8, 64 ± 4 and 79 ± 6 kJ/mol for EtOH, 1-PrOH and 2-PrOH, respectively. The use of a Ni/γ-Al 2 O 3 catalyst results in higher rate constants compared to the catalyst-free TH. Nevertheless, the selectivity to furfuryl alcohol in the presence of the catalyst does not exceed 50% vs 70–80% for the catalyst-free transformations. Thus, this study shows the high donor potential of alcohols in TH under both catalytic and catalyst-free conditions. A special attention is paid to primary alcohols, because they are highly demanded as H-donors due to economic and environmental reasons. [Display omitted] • Primary C 1 -C 4 alcohols demonstrate high donor activity in furfural TH. • Catalyst-free TH of furfural and 1-PrOH has lower activation energy than 2-PrOH. • Selectivity to furfuryl alcohol of catalyst-free furfural TH reaches 70–80%. • Use of Ni/γ-Al 2 O 3 results in higher rate constants but the lower selectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]