Catalytic Transfer Hydrogenation of Furfural over Magnetic Carbon-Encapsulated CoO@C Catalyst

A magnetic CoO@C catalyst with a carbon-encapsulated structure was prepared by a hydrothermal method and applied into catalytic transfer hydrogenation of furfural with alcohol as the hydrogen donor. The preparation parameters of CoO@C were studied in detail. Various techniques were used to systematically analyze the physicochemical properties of CoO@C. The formation mechanism of CoO@C was proposed. CoO@C exhibited higher catalytic activity and selectivity toward furfuryl alcohol in the catalytic transfer hydrogenation of furfural than Co3O4@C and Co@C. The effects of reaction conditions on catalytic transfer hydrogenation of furfural over CoO@C were also investigated to optimize the reaction conditions. The CoO@C catalyst can be recovered and reused under an external magnetic field, and its catalytic performance did not decrease significantly after reuse for four times. Based on the experimental results, a possible mechanism for the catalytic transfer hydrogenation of furfural over CoO@C and over Co@C was proposed.