2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) is produced from the selective oxidation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and is an important platform molecule applied in the pharmaceutical and petrochemical industries. Activated carbons produced from renewable resources are useful materials due to their physicochemical properties, defined mainly by the oxygenated functional groups on their surface. This work studies the oxidation of HMF to FDCA over Pt catalysts supported on açaí coal. The catalysts were characterized by N2 adsorption, XPS, ToF-SIMS, FTIR, XRD, Raman, TEM, SEM, TPR-H2, and TGA/DTA. The conversion of HMF to FDCA in an alkaline medium occurred via hydroxymethyl-2-furancarboxylic acid (HMFCA), which was oxidized to 5-formylfurancarboxylic acid (FFCA) and FDCA. The catalytic tests showed a high conversion of HMF with a 93.6% yield of FDCA. The excellent results were attributed to the high dispersion of Pt on the support and the presence of oxygenated functional groups on the coal surface. The functional groups increased the interaction between Pt-HMF and Pt-furan intermediates and favored a higher dispersion of platinum (53.3%) due to an anchoring effect.
Inside Cover: Paramagnetic Carbon Nanosheets with Random Hole Defects and Oxygenated Functional Groups (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 34/2019)