Direct conversion of carbohydrates into HMF with germanium(IV) chloride in ionic liquids
23 December 2010
Researchers in China report on the direct conversion of carbohydrates into 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) catalyzed by germanium(IV) chloride in ionic liquids in a new paper in the journal ChemSusChem. The catalyst shows excellent activity for fructose dehydration, and a high yield of HMF up to 90% is obtained in 5 min. This nontoxic catalytic system is also efficient for other carbohydrates such as glucose, sucrose, and even cellulose.
HMF is a platform chemical that can be further upgraded into fuels.
Monosaccharides D-fructose and D-glucose, disaccharides sucrose and maltose, and even the polysaccharide cellulose were successfully converted into HMF with good yields under mild conditions (yield up to 92% in 5 min in the case of fructose). The structure of ionic liquids, catalyst loading, reaction temperature and water content had noticeable effects on this catalytic system..
Addition of 5 Å molecular sieves during the dehydration of glucose resulted in an increase in HMF yield from 38.4% to 48.4%. A mechanism for glucose conversion to HMF catalyzed by germanium(IV) chloride was proposed according to 13C NMR spectra obtained in situ under different conditions using D-glucose-2-13C as the substrate.
—Zhang et al.
Resources
Zehui Zhang, Qian Wang, Haibo Xie, Wujun Liu and Zongbao (Kent) Zhao (2010) Catalytic Conversion of Carbohydrates into 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural by Germanium(IV) Chloride in Ionic Liquids. ChemSusChem doi: 10.1002/cssc.201000279
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