Nickel and Molybdenum-Containing Perovskites as Efficient Heterogeneous Catalysts for the Conversion of Biobased Furfural to a Fuel Additive Intermediate

In this work, the catalytic conversion of furfural was found to follow both CTHs and etherification pathways in one-pot over multicationic inorganic perovskites (LaNi_1-xMo_xO_3±δ) as heterogeneous catalysts. The conversion of furfural (FA) into alcohols and ether functionalities using the as-synthesized perovskite catalysts showed good conversions that are above 80% and excellent selectivity towards the desired product. The LaMoO₃ catalyst was found to achieve the highest percentage conversion of 83%. Simple and multicationic inorganic perovskites were successfully employed in the transformation of furfural to produce β-methoxy-2-furanethanol. Furthermore, we postulate the hydrogenation of the keto-group to be the first step in the mechanism of the formation of β-methoxy-2-furanethanol and that its formation is characterized by rearrangement of the intermediate over the surface of the catalyst.