Furfural is an important low-cost biomass product, obtained from dehydration of xylose. Yanqin Wang and co-workers, East China University of Science and Technology, report a catalysis strategy for the conversion of furfural to octane with high yield under mild conditions. The novel aspect of the strategy is that through designing the new bifunctional Pt/Co₂AlO₄ and
Pt/NbOPO₄ catalysts, octane can be produced at lowered operating pressures and temperatures throughout the whole processes.

The bifunctional Pt/Co₂AlO₄ catalyst converts 4-(2-furyl)-3-buten-2-one 1 to octanediol, while mesoporous Pt/NbOPO₄ not only converts diols to octane, but also partially opens the tetrahydrofuran ring in 4-(2-tetrahydrofuryl)-butan-2-ol 3 (ca. 41 %) and improves the final yield of octane even under such mild conditions.

The final octane yield reaches ca. 76 %, which is the highest value reported under such mild conditions so far.

• Effective Production of Octane from Biomass Derivatives under Mild Conditions
  W. Xu, Q. Xia, Y. Zhang, Y. Guo, Y. Wang, G. Lu,
  ChemSusChem 2011.
  DOI: 10.1002/cssc.201100361