Issue 9, 2012

Direct conversion of carbohydrates to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural using Sn-Mont catalyst

Abstract

5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is a very important intermediate in the fine chemical industry. This study aims to investigate the direct conversion of glucose or glucose-based carbohydrates, such as sucrose, cellobiose, inulin, starch and cellulose, to HMF by using a Sn-Mont catalyst. With the use of this catalyst, a HMF yield of 53.5% was achieved from glucose in a mono-phase medium of tetrahydrofuran (THF)/dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) at 160 °C for 3 h. The success of one-step conversion of glucose to HMF is attributed to the Sn-Mont catalyst containing two types of acid sites, Lewis acid and Brønsted acid sites. The former one plays a crucial role in the isomerization of glucose to fructose and the latter one is active in the dehydration of generated fructose to HMF. Furthermore, Sn-Mont catalyst also demonstrated excellent activity in the conversion of disaccharides and polysaccharides and as high as 39.1% HMF was directly obtained from cellulose in a THF/H2O–NaCl bi-phasic system.

Graphical abstract: Direct conversion of carbohydrates to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural using Sn-Mont catalyst

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
08 May 2012
Accepted
14 Jun 2012
First published
04 Jul 2012

Green Chem., 2012,14, 2506-2512

Direct conversion of carbohydrates to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural using Sn-Mont catalyst

J. Wang, J. Ren, X. Liu, J. Xi, Q. Xia, Y. Zu, G. Lu and Y. Wang, Green Chem., 2012, 14, 2506 DOI: 10.1039/C2GC35699F

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