Abstract: Furfural produced from plant biomass is the precursor to a wide range of furan-based chemicals such as 2-methylfuran, tetrahydrofuran, furfuryl alcohol, tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol, etc. Claisen-Schmidt condensation of furfural with ketones allows obtaining a variety of valuable furfurylidene ketone-based compounds. Recently, there is a challenge to develop heterogeneous catalysts, which are highly active, economical and eco-friendly in the above-mentioned reaction. We studied the effect of composition and physicochemical properties of MgAl and LiAl mixed oxides on their catalytic properties in the aqueous Claisen-Schmidt condensation of furfural with acetone and cyclohexanone. It was shown that MgAlOx and LiAlOx catalysts are highly active in furfural conversion. The most basic LiAlOx catalyst with the Li/Al atomic ratio of 0.5 provides a high rate of the reaction between furfural and acetone. The MgAl oxide catalysts are less active in the same reaction, but allow achieving a high selectivity to furfurylidene acetone (97 %) at almost complete conversion of furfural. Moreover, the MgAlOx catalysts were shown to be highly active in the condensation of furfural with cyclohexanone. The sample with the Mg/Al atomic ratio of 4 allows achieving a 90 % conversion of furfural giving furfurylidene cyclohexanone in a high yield.

Cite: Mironenko R.M. , Stepanova L.N. , Belskaya O.B.
MgAl and LiAl mixed oxides as efficient catalysts for aqueous Claisen-Schmidt condensation of biomass-derived furfural with ketones
The 5th International Scientific School-Conference for Young Scientists “Catalysis: from science to industry” 25-29 Sep 2018