Dataset of hydrotalcite-derived NiCo Alloy Catalyst for 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural Reduction Amination

5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is a typical biomass-based platform molecule and also a key link between biochemical industry and petrochemical industry. Its reductive amination product, 5-hydroxymethylfurfurylamine (HMFA), shows broad application prospects in the fields of biomedicine and polymer materials. In this study, a hydrotalcite-derived NiCo alloy catalyst was prepared via the solvothermal method. XRD, TEM, and XPS characterizations indicated atomic-level lattice doping and electron transfer between Ni and Co metals, forming NiCo alloy phases. The Ni2Co1Al catalyst achieved excellent performance, up to 100% HMF conversion and an ultra-high HMFA yield of 98.7% in the reductive amination evaluation of HMF. The HMFA yield remained above 95% throughout four consecutive cyclic stability tests. In-situ FT-IR adsorption experiments confirmed that the NiCo alloy exhibited stronger substrate adsorption capacity than single metals, while NH3-TPD results indicated that Ni2Co1Al possessed the largest number of strong acid sites. These factors collectively contributed to the excellent performance of Ni2Co1Al in the reductive amination of HMF. Furthermore, the Ni2Co1Al catalyst displayed good substrate adaptability in the reductive amination of a series of aldehydes compounds, providing a practical and feasible theoretical reference for the high-value utilization of biomass derivatives.