title: Catalytic conversion of cellulose to chemicals in ionic liquid.
abstract: A simple and effective route for the production of 5-hydroxymethyl furfural (HMF) and furfural from microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) has been developed. CoSO(4) in an ionic liquid, 1-(4-sulfonic acid) butyl-3-methylimidazolium hydrogen sulfate (IL-1), was found to be an efficient catalyst for the hydrolysis of cellulose at 150°C, which led to 84% conversion of MCC after 300min reaction time. In the presence of a catalytic amount of CoSO(4), the yields of HMF and furfural were up to 24% and 17%, respectively; a small amount of levulinic acid (LA) and reducing sugars (8% and 4%, respectively) were also generated. Dimers of furan compounds were detected as the main by-products through HPLC-MS, and with the help of mass spectrometric analysis, the components of gas products were methane, ethane, CO, CO(2,) and H(2). A mechanism for the CoSO(4)-IL-1 hydrolysis system was proposed and IL-1 was recycled for the first time, which exhibited favorable catalytic activity over five repeated runs. This catalytic system may be valuable to facilitate energy-efficient and cost-effective conversion of biomass into biofuels and platform chemicals.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Oxo Synthesis and Selective Oxidation, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, PR China.
authors.forename: Furong
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tao
authors.forename: Huanling
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Lingjun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chou
mesh_terms: D002384:Catalysis; D002482:Cellulose / Q000737:chemistry*; D003035:Cobalt / Q000737:chemistry; D005662:Furaldehyde / Q000737:chemistry; D052578:Ionic Liquids / Q000737:chemistry*; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
chemical_list: D052578:Ionic Liquids; D003035:Cobalt; D002482:Cellulose; D005662:Furaldehyde; C026305:cobalt sulfate