Pentanediols (1,2-pentanediol and 1,5-pentanediol) are important feedstock for synthesis of fine chemicals, production of which from the biomass-derived furfural or furfuryl alcohol (FA) has been considered as a sustainable route and attracted much interest. In this study, the catalysts with Ni–Fe as the metal sites and Mg–Al layered double hydroxides (LDH) as precursor of support were synthesized. The results showed that the presence of Fe in catalyst affected both the development of the pores of the catalyst and the catalytic behaviors of nickel species. A low Fe content facilitated formation of mesoporous structure, but the higher content destroyed the LDH structure, resulting in a decreased surface area. Fe could also react with metallic Ni to form NiFe alloy. This decreased the catalytic activity for the further hydrogenation of the furan ring in FA, and FA would thus have the chance to produce pentanediols via hydrogenolysis. The In-situ Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Fourier Transform Spectroscopy characterization of hydrogenation of FA indicated that the alloying between Fe and Ni resulted in a weak adsorption of CC group in furan ring and moderate adsorption of C–O–C group, which suppressed the complete hydrogenation of FA while facilitated the ring-opening of FA to form the pentanediols.

戊二醇（1,2-戊二醇和1,5-戊二醇）是合成精细化学品的重要原料，从生物质衍生的糠醛或糠醇（FA）进行生产一直被认为是可持续的途径，引起了人们的极大兴趣。在这项研究中，合成了以Ni-Fe为金属位点和Mg-Al层状双氢氧化物（LDH）为载体前体的催化剂。结果表明，催化剂中铁的存在影响了催化剂孔的发展以及镍物种的催化行为。Fe含量低有助于中孔结构的形成，但是较高的Fe含量破坏了LDH结构，导致表面积减小。Fe还可以与金属Ni反应形成NiFe合金。这降低了FA中呋喃环进一步氢化的催化活性，因此FA将有机会通过氢解反应生产戊二醇。这FA氢化的原位漫反射红外傅里叶变换光谱分析表明，Fe和Ni的合金化导致呋喃环中C C基团的吸附较弱，而C –OC–C基团的吸附适中，从而抑制了完全氢化。 FA的同时促进FA的开环以形成戊二醇。