Selective Hydrogenolysis of 5‐Hydroxymethylfurfural to 2‐Hexanol over Au/ZrO2 Catalysts

Abstract 2‐Hexanol (2‐HOL) is a versatile biomass‐derived platform molecule for synthesis of liquid transportation fuels, lubricants, or detergents. Herein, a one‐step preparation of 2‐HOL using 5‐hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) as a substrate was reported for the first time. Several Au‐based catalysts supported on different metal oxides were prepared to explore the relationship between carrier and catalytic activity. The results showed that the highest 2‐HOL yield of 65.8 % was obtained at complete HMF conversion over the 5 %Au/ZrO 2 catalyst. The 5 %Au/ZrO 2 catalyst exhibited excellent durability after five consecutive recycling runs, while confirming its remarkable ring‐opening hydrogenolysis on other biomass‐derived furanics, furfural, with a total yield of 1‐pentanol and 2‐pentanol of 67.4 %. The distinguished ring‐opening hydrogenolysis performance of the Au/ZrO 2 catalyst originated from a synergistic effect between the interfacial Au‐O‐Zr oxygen vacancies‐induced Lewis acidic sites (activating C−OH/C=O bonds) and metallic Au (activating H 2 ). This work provides a possibility for producing 2‐HOL from HMF with high yield, expanding the sustainable application of lignocellulosic biomass.