Furfuryl ethyl ether (FEE) was synthesized from furfural via reductive etherification in 81% yield over a Pd/C catalyst under mild conditions.

The total hydrogenation of furfural (FAL) in aqueous solution was investigated under mild conditions over a series of a physical mixture of Pd-and Ru-supported catalysts. Monometallic catalysts showed unfulfilled selectivity toward total hydrogenation: supported Pd catalysts tend to give a mixture of tetrahydrofufural (THFAL), furfuryl alcohol (FA), and tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol (THFA) while supported Ru catalysts are apt to hydrogenate the CO bond. When supported Pd and Ru catalysts were mixed, the yield of THFA was significantly improved. A support-dependent promotion effect was noticed; in particular, Pd/Al 2 O 3 and Ru/ZrO 2 mixture gave 99% yield of THFA at 30 °C and 0.5 MPa H 2 . Detailed kinetics studies suggest that the reaction pathway with THFAL as the intermediate could be involved in this process. The apparent activation energy of furan hydrogenation over Pd/ Al 2 O 3 and the subsequent CO bond hydrogenation over Ru/ZrO 2 is about 21 and 30 kJ/mol, respectively. The low activation energies may well explain the observed activity of total hydrogenation of FAL over bimetallic mixtures. This two-step reaction process was also investigated in a fixed-bed reactor with a two-catalyst bed, which gave stable THFA yield and shows promising industrial application.

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It is important to study the bactericidal mechanism with nanostructures for the design and preparation of high-efficiency sterilization materials. In this paper, the interfacial energy gradient between cells and nanopillars is proposed to be the driving force to promote cells to migrate into nanostructures and get killed. The expressions of interfacial energy and its gradient were first established, then the deformation of cells pressured by nanostructures was calculated. The results show that the interfacial energy gradient or the pressure on cells is influenced by nanopillar parameters substantially. The smaller the nanopillar diameter and the larger the pitch, the greater the pressure on cells. Only high enough nanocolumns can ensure sufficient cell creep deformation and become punctured. Furthermore, a cell volume and its adhesion morphology also influence the interaction between cells and nanostructures. The smaller the cell volume, the greater the pressure on it. And the larger the contact angle of adhered cells, the greater the pressure on the cells by nanopillars. Besides, the wettability of substrate material also influences the interaction between cells and nanopillars. It can be concluded that the model is reasonable and reliable since its calculation results are in good accordance with the experimental measurements.