Selective oxidation of biomass-derived furfural to 2(5H)-furanone using trifluoroacetic acid as the catalyst and hydrogen peroxide as a green oxidant

In this work, biomass-derived furfural has been selectively oxidized to 2(5H)-furanone using aqueous hydrogen peroxide as the green oxidant. Among various homogeneous acid catalysts screened for the transformation, trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) was found to be the most suitable candidate that afforded up to 52% isolated yield of 2(5H)-furanone under mild conditions (RT, 1 h). In addition, succinic acid was recovered in nearly 20% yield from the aqueous layer. The organic solvent-free, gram-scale reaction was optimized on temperature, the molar ratio of H2O2 and furfural, and the amount of TFA used.