Efficient aerobic oxidation of biomass-derived 5-hydroxymethylfurfural to 2,5-diformylfuran catalyzed by magnetic nanoparticle supported manganese oxide

•Magnetic Fe3O4/Mn3O4 nanoparticles were prepared by solvent thermal method.•Fe3O4/Mn3O4 showed high catalytic activity in the oxidation of HMF.•High DFF yield of 82.1% was obtained after 4 h with the flush of oxygen.•Catalyst recycling and product purification were simple and environmental-friendly.

Magnetic Fe3O4 supported Mn3O4 nanoparticles (Fe3O4/Mn3O4) were prepared by the solvent thermal method, and its structure was characterized by XRD, XPS, TEM, and FT-IR technologies. The resulting Fe3O4/Mn3O4 nanoparticles could be used as an excellent heterogeneous catalyst for the aerobic oxidation of the biomass-derived model molecule 5-hydroxymethylfurfural into 2,5-diformylfuran (DFF) under benign reaction conditions. Some important reaction parameters such as reaction temperature, catalyst amount, solvent, oxidant, and oxygen pressure were explored and high DFF yield of 82.1% with HMF conversion of 100% were obtained in DMF under optimal reaction conditions. More importantly, the catalyst could be readily separated from the reaction mixture by a permanent magnet, and recycled up to 6 times without the significant loss of its catalytic activity.

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