Chinese Journal of Catalysis ›› 2014, Vol. 35 ›› Issue (4): 496-500.DOI: 10.1016/S1872-2067(14)60012-7

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Catalytic conversion of carbohydrates to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural promoted by metal halides

Qiuhe Rena,b, Yizheng Huanga, Hong Maa, Jin Gaoa, Jie Xua   

  1. a Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy, State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, Liaoning, China;
    b University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
  • Received:2013-11-24 Revised:2013-12-25 Online:2014-03-20 Published:2014-03-21
  • Supported by:

    This work was supported by the Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KSCX2-E-G-5), the “Strategic Priority Research Program-Climate Change: Carbon Budget and Related Issues” of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA05010203), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21233008).

Abstract:

The promotion effect of alkali metal halides toward the AlCl3-catalyzed conversion of glucose to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) was investigated. The results show that NaF inhibited the reaction. However, NaI and NaBr promoted the reaction significantly, and the promotion effect of NaI was more obvious than that of NaBr. In N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAC), when NaI was used as an additive for the AlCl3-catalyzed conversion of glucose at 130 ℃ for 15 min, glucose conversion increased from 71% to 86%, and the HMF yield increased from 36% to 62%. The AlCl3-NaI-DMAC system could also be used for the catalytic conversion of other carbohydrates such as fructose, mannose, sucrose, maltose, cellobiose, and inulin to HMF. When sucrose was used as the feedstock, a 63% HMF yield was achieved.

Key words: Carbohydrate, 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural, Metal halide, Catalysis