Development of Sustainable Catalytic Pathways for Furan Derivatives

Biomass, the only globally available, renewable feedstock of organic carbon, is considered a viable alternative to fossil fuels. It can be efficiently utilized to produce various building blocks in accordance with green and sustainable chemistry principles. In this review, recent progress, such as the transformation of carbohydrates (C5 or C6 sugar, inulin, and cellulose) and their derivatives (furfural, hydroxymethylfurfural) into significant platform chemicals over polyoxometalates, zeolites, non-noble metals, and ionic liquids in single or multiphase, is evaluated.

Sn-Based Porous Coordination Polymer Synthesized with Two Ligands for Tandem Catalysis Producing 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural

5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is a biomass-derived important platform compound. Developing an efficient catalyst for producing HMF from a biomass source is important. Herein, using the ligands 5-sulfoisophthalic acid (SPA) and imidazole (Imd), a tin-based porous coordination polymer was synthesized, namely SPA-Imd-TinPCP. This novel material possesses a multifunctional catalysis capability. The coordinated tin (IV) can catalyze the isomerization of glucose to fructose. The ligand imidazole, as an additional base site, can catalyze glucose isomerization. The sulfonic group of the ligand SPA can catalyze the dehydration of fructose to HMF. SPA-Imd-TinPCP was used as a catalyst for the conversion of glucose to HMF. HMF yields of 59.5% in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and 49.8% in the biphasic solvent of water/tetrahydrofuran were obtained. Consecutive use of SPA-Imd-TinPCP demonstrated that, after reusing it five times, there was no significant activity loss in terms of the glucose conversion and HMF yield.

Production of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural from starch-rich food waste catalyzed by sulfonated biochar

Sulfonated biochar derived from forestry wood waste was employed for the catalytic conversion of starch-rich food waste (e.g., bread) into 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). Chemical and physical properties of catalyst were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area, and elemental analysis. The conversion of HMF was investigated via controlling the reaction parameters such as catalyst loading, temperature, and reaction time. Under the optimum reaction conditions the HMF yield of 30.4 Cmol% (i.e., 22 wt% of bread waste) was achieved in the mixture of dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO)/deionized-water (DIW) at 180 °C in 20 min. The effectiveness of sulfonated biochar catalyst was positively correlated to the density of strong/weak Brønsted acidity (SO₃H, COOH, and OH groups) and inversely correlated to humins content on the surface. With regeneration process, sulfonated biochar catalyst displayed excellent recyclability for comparable HMF yield from bread waste over five cycles.

Efficient synthesis of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural from mannose with a reusable MCM-41-supported tin catalyst

The Sn/MCM-41 catalyst was demonstrated to be effective for the conversion of mannose into 5-HMF, with comparable performances to those of reported heterogeneous catalysts. The Sn/MCM-41 catalyst was reusable without significant loss of activity after eight consecutive runs.

p-Hydroxybenzenesulfonic acid–formaldehyde solid acid resin for the conversion of fructose and glucose to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural

SPFR solid acids. Novel solid acid resins were synthesized by an energy and time efficient hydrothermal method.

An enhanced nonpolarity effect of silica-supported perfluoroalkyl sulfonylimide on catalytic fructose dehydration

–SO₂NHSO₂C₄F₉/CF₃-functionalized silica was prepared.

Advances in the conversion of glucose and cellulose to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural over heterogeneous catalysts

This review provides a holistic overview of the developed heterogeneous catalysts for HMF production from dehydration of glucose and cellulose in various solvent systems.