posted on 2021-03-19, 15:06authored byArvind
Singh Chauhan, Ajay Kumar, Pralay Das
A metal catalyst and a hydrogen gas-free
approach has been developed
for selective reduction of aldehyde to an alkyl group of different
substituted furan compounds. In this process, hydrazine hydrate under
basic conditions at reflux temperature selectively participated in
the reduction of the aldehyde moiety to the corresponding alkyl group
of highly reactive furan compounds in a selective manner. The developed
protocol was applied for selective and scalable reduction of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural
(5-HMF) up to 250 g to 5-methylfurfuryl alcohol (MFA) in a 70% yield.
Under the same process, furfuraldehyde was also tested in a 250 g
reaction for 2-methylfuran (MF) synthesis in a highly selective manner
and the product was distilled out from a single-pot reaction with
gas chromatography (GC) purity ≥90%. The scope of the process
was further extended for different substituted furfuraldehydes successfully.
In addition, the protocol is found to be efficient for scalable production
and easy separation of the product.