Highly selective supported gold catalyst for CO-driven reduction of furfural in aqueous media

The reductive transformation of furfural (FAL) into furfuryl alcohol (FOL) is an attractive route for the use of renewable bio-sources but it suffers from the heavy use of H 2 . We describe here a highly efficient reduction protocol for converting aqueous FAL to FOL. A single phase rutile TiO 2 support with a gold catalyst (Au/TiO 2 -R) that used CO/H 2 O as the hydrogen source catalyze this reduction efficiently under mild conditions. By eliminating the consumption of fossil fuel-derived H 2 , our process has the benefit afforded by using CO as a convenient and cost competitive reducing reagent.