Sustainable friedel-crafts acylation of furan using nanocrystalline ZSM-5: A green catalytic approach

• La 3+ and Ce 3+ exchanged nanocrystalline ZSM-5 was used as a catalysts for acylation of furan with acetic anhydride. The catalyst shows sustainable activity and selectivity with 94.1% conversion with 100% selectivity towards the desired product, 2-acylfuran. The Friedel-Crafts acylation of furan with acetic anhydride to produce 2-acylfuran is of significant industrial importance to produce key intermediates. However, the current process usually uses liquid acids that are extremely polluting as catalysts, which is problematic for the environment. As industries continue to seek environmentally friendly and cost-effective alternatives, these green catalysts heterogeneous catalysts in a solventless green process offers a sustainable approach to chemical synthetic processes hold great promise for a wide range of applications. In the present study, nanocrystalline ZSM-5 and rare-earth ion-exchanged nanocrystalline ZSM-5 were used as heterogeneous catalysts in the liquid-phase acylation of furan with acetic anhydride. The synthesized catalysts were characterized using advanced techniques, including DLS, XRD, and SEM. Under optimized conditions, the catalyst demonstrated significantly superior performance compared to previous methods, achieving 94.1% conversion with 100% selectivity towards the desired product, 2-acylfuran.