Furfural is a valuable dehydration product of xylose. It has a broad spectrum of industrial applications. Various catalysts containing SO₃H have been reported for the conversion of xylose into furfural. Nevertheless, the multi-step preparation is tedious, and the catalysts are usually fine powders that are difficult to separate from the suspension. Novel magnetic mesoporous carbonaceous materials (Fe/MC) were successfully prepared via facile self-assembly in a single step. A facile subsequent hydrothermal sulfonation of Fe/MC with concentrated H₂SO₄ at 180°C gave mesoporous carbon bearing SO₃H groups (SO₃[email protected]/MC) without loss of the magnetic properties. Various techniques were employed to characterize the SO₃[email protected]/MC as a candidate catalyst. It showed strong magnetism due to its Fe particles and possessed a 243 m² g⁻¹ BET-specific surface area and a 90% mesopore volume. The sample contained 0.21 mmol g⁻¹ of SO₃H and gave a high conversion and an acceptable furfural yield and selectivity (100%, 45% and 45%, respectively) when used at 170°C for 1 h with γ-valerolactone as solvent. The catalyst was easily separated after the catalytic tests by using a magnet, confirming sufficient magneticstability.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Bio-derived and bioinspired sustainable advanced materials for emerging technologies (part 2)’.

糠醛是一种有价值的木糖脱水产物。它具有广泛的工业应用。已经报道了各种含有 SO ₃ H 的催化剂用于将木糖转化为糠醛。然而，多步制备是繁琐的，并且催化剂通常是难以从悬浮液中分离的细粉。通过简单的自组装一步成功地制备了新型磁性介孔碳质材料（Fe/MC）。Fe/MC在 180°C 下用浓 H ₂ SO ₄轻松进行水热磺化，得到带有 SO ₃ H 基团的介孔碳（SO ₃[电子邮件保护]/MC) 而不会损失磁性。使用各种技术来表征 SO ₃ [电子邮件保护]/MC 作为候选催化剂。由于其 Fe 颗粒，它显示出强磁性，并具有 243 m ²  g ^-1 BET 比表面积和 90% 的中孔体积。该样品含有 0.21 mmol g ^-1 SO ₃ H，当在 170°C 下使用 1 小时，γ-戊内酯作为溶剂。通过使用磁铁进行催化试验后，催化剂很容易分离，证实了足够的磁稳定性。

本文是主题问题“用于新兴技术的生物衍生和仿生可持续先进材料（第 2 部分）”的一部分。