The reductive amination of biomass-derived furfural over non-noble metal catalysts represents a promising but challenging strategy for the sustainable synthesis of furfurylamine. Herein, we report mesoporous carbon supported CoZn bimetallic catalysts (CoxZny@MC) via a one-pot solvent evaporation induced self-assembly (EISA) method for high-efficiency reductive amination of furfural to furfurylamine with hydrous hydrazine (N2H4⋅H2O) as a nitrogen source. A complete conversion of furfural with a 97.5% yield of furfurylamine was achieved over bimetallic Co1Zn3@MC catalyst under mild conditions of 100 °C and 1.5 MPa H2 for 3 h. Furthermore, Co1Zn3@MC could be reused for at least five times with only a slight loss in activity. The excellent performance of the Co1Zn3@MC catalyst was mainly attributed to the introduction of moderate Zn species, which led to high dispersion of Co particles on the catalyst surface, as well as the abundant mesopores and high specific surface area of the catalyst. Moreover, a significant electron transfer from Zn species to Co centers occurs, which improves the inherent catalytic activity of the non-noble bimetallic catalyst by enhancing the electron density of Co particles.

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