The Critical Role of Water in the Ring Opening of Furfural Alcohol to 1,2-Pentanediol

Water, as an environmentally benign solvent, is a very common medium in biomass conversion. Here, we describe how water can significantly promote the ring-opening process of furfural alcohol and enhance the selectivity to 1,2-pentanediol formation. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that water participates in the ring-opening process of furfural alcohol and can significantly favor the formation of 1,2-pentanediol, leading to the rapid ring opening of furfural alcohol with a high selectivity to 1,2-pentanediol (up to 65.0% from furfural over Pt/CeO2 catalyst). Most importantly, we provide direct evidence that water participates in the ring-opening process of furfural alcohol through the H218O isotopic tracing experiments. This work gives a possibility to enhance the ring-opening process and control the selectivity of ring-opening products of furanic platform compounds in biomass valorization.