Nano‐Fibrillated Cellulose as a Versatile Carrier of Ru/Cu Nanoparticles for the Catalytic Transfer Hydrogenation of 5‐Hydroxymethyfural to 2,5‐Bishydroxymethylfuran

Abstract Nano‐fibrillated cellulose (NFC), an abundant natural biomacromolecule, has received much attention in the field of catalyst preparation due to its unique properties. Herein, NFC is used as a versatile carrier of ruthenium and copper nanoparticles to enhance their performance in the catalytic transfer hydrogenation (CTH) of 5‐hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) into 2,5‐bis(hydroxymethyl)furan (BHMF). The obtained RuCu@NFC was first characterized by SEM‐EDX, TEM, FT‐IR, XRD, TGA, and XPS techniques. The results showed that ruthenium and copper nanoparticles were well‐distributed on the surface of NFC, and NFC had a good thermal stability under the temperature of 210 °C. The CTH of HMF into BHMF study showed that a 97.0% of HMF conversion with a satisfactory BHMF selectivity up to 91.5% was obtained at 210 °C in 12 h over RuCu@NFC using isopropanol as the H‐donor. And RuCu@NFC was a robust catalyst that could be continuously used at least third times without significant loss in its catalytic activity.