Conversion of furfuryl alcohol into butyl levulinate with graphite oxide and reduced graphite oxide

Levulinate esters are important chemical compounds usually obtained by esterification of levulinic acid derived from cellulose. We studied the synthesis of levulinate esters from furfuryl alcohol using graphite oxide (GO) and reduced graphite oxide (rGO) catalysts. The GO and rGO provided close to 100% selectivity to levulinate at a reaction temperature of 110 °C. The reaction rate and selectivity were largely influenced by changing the number of oxygen-containing groups on the catalyst surface. With an increased supply of biomass-derived chemicals, the demonstrated catalytic features of the family of graphite make them good candidates for application in biorefineries.