Production of precursors for sustainable aviation fuels through furfural/cyclopentanone aldol condensation boosted by TiO2-loaded dendritic ZSM-5 catalysts

• Dendritic ZSM-5 zeolite possesses high accessibility and multimodal porosity. • TiO 2 incorporation optimises Brønsted/Lewis acidity in dendritic ZSM-5. • TiO 2 /d-ZSM-5 is highly active and selective in FFL/CPO aldol condensation. • Targeted SAF precursors obtained with 85.5 mol% yield. This study reports the catalytic performance of dendritic ZSM-5 (d-ZSM-5) catalysts in the aldol condensation of cyclopentanone (CPO) and furfural (FFL), two biomass-derived molecules used to produce sustainable aviation fuel precursors. The dendritic architecture of ZSM-5 provides it with enhanced accessibility and textural features, including a large external surface area, high pore volume, and interconnected porosity. These are key parameters in the CPO/FFL aldol condensation due to the large molecular size of the products (FC and F 2 C) regarding the MFI micropore dimensions. In this way, and compared with a reference nanocrystalline ZSM-5 sample, the dendritic zeolite exhibited quite superior conversion and better selectivity towards the targeted condensation products across a wide range of CPO/FFL molar ratios (1/2 to 10/1). Likewise, the rational modification of dendritic ZSM-5 with TiO 2 is explored for the first time, showing how this strategy significantly enhances the catalytic activity by providing an optimal balance of Brønsted and Lewis acidity and achieving a high dispersion of this metal oxide. Thus, the best catalyst (5 wt% TiO 2 /d-ZSM-5) reaches 93 % FFL conversion and 92 % selectivity to FC + F 2 C. These findings highlight TiO 2 -modified dendritic zeolites as promising, reusable catalysts for upgrading biomass platform molecules into advanced aviation biofuel precursors.