Highly Effective Non-Noble MnO 2 Catalysts for 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural Oxidation to 2,5-Furandicarboxylic Acid.

Noble metal-free catalyst or catalytic oxidation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural into 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid are proposed in this study as a proposal to solve one of the great disadvantages of this reaction of using preferably noble metal-based catalysts. The catalytic activity of six MnO 2 crystal structures is studied as alternative. The obtained results showed a strong connection between catalytic activity the type of MnO 2 structure organization and redox behavior. Among all tested catalysts, ϵ-MnO 2 showed the best performance with an excellent yield of 74 % of 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid at full -hydroxymethylfurfural conversion.