Issue 26, 2015

One-pot synthesis of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural from carbohydrates using an inexpensive FePO4 catalyst

Abstract

Catalytic conversion of carbohydrates to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) provides a way toward obtaining renewable biomass-based fuels and chemicals. Herein, we use an inexpensive FePO4 catalyst, which is insoluble at low temperature but can be partially dissolved and act as a homogeneous catalyst at high temperature, in a one-vessel biphasic reactor to generate 5-HMF from carbohydrates such as fructose, glucose, sucrose, cellulose, and Camellia oleifera shell (a lignocellulosic feedstock) without the addition of homogeneous acids. The effects of various reaction conditions including reaction temperature, reaction time, feedstock types and the amount of catalyst on fructose conversion and 5-HMF yield were investigated. The highest 5-HMF yield (71.5 mol%) starting from fructose feedstock was achieved using this “one-pot” biphasic water/tetrahydrofuran (THF) reactor system at 140 °C for 15 min. More interestingly, at high temperature, the FePO4 catalyst was also highly active in the conversion of cellulose and Camellia oleifera shell, which are very difficult to convert to 5-HMF without the addition of mineral acids. A high 5-HMF yield of 48 mol% starting from microcrystalline cellulose was also obtained using the biphasic reaction system. Moreover, the FePO4 catalyst could be easily separated and recycled from the aqueous solution via precipitation after cooling to room temperature since it is insoluble at low temperature. Possible dehydration reaction mechanisms of these carbohydrates catalyzed by FePO4 were also proposed.

Graphical abstract: One-pot synthesis of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural from carbohydrates using an inexpensive FePO4 catalyst

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
10 Dec 2014
Accepted
28 Jan 2015
First published
28 Jan 2015

RSC Adv., 2015,5, 19900-19906

Author version available

One-pot synthesis of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural from carbohydrates using an inexpensive FePO4 catalyst

L. Yang, X. Yan, S. Xu, H. Chen, H. Xia and S. Zuo, RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 19900 DOI: 10.1039/C4RA16145A

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