title: Dehydration of different ketoses and aldoses to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural.
abstract: 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is considered an important building block for future bio-based chemicals. Here, we present an experimental study using different ketoses (fructose, sorbose, tagatose) and aldoses (glucose, mannose, galactose) under aqueous acidic conditions (65 g L(-1) substrate, 100-160 °C, 33-300 mM H2 SO4 ) to gain insights into reaction pathways for hexose dehydration to HMF. Both reaction rates and HMF selectivities were significantly higher for ketoses than for aldoses, which is in line with literature. Screening and kinetic experiments showed that the reactivity of the different ketoses is a function of the hydroxyl group orientation at the C3 and C4 positions. These results, in combination with DFT calculations, point to a dehydration mechanism involving cyclic intermediates. For aldoses, no influence of the hydroxyl group orientation was observed, indicating a different rate-determining step. The combination of the knowledge from the literature and the findings in this work indicates that aldoses require an isomerization to ketose prior to dehydration to obtain high HMF yields.
authors.affiliation: Avantium Chemicals, Zekeringstraat 29, 1014 BV Amsterdam (The Netherlands); Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen (The Netherlands).
authors.forename: Robert-Jan
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: van Putten
authors.forename: Jenny N M
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Soetedjo
authors.forename: Evgeny A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Pidko
authors.forename: Jan C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: van der Waal
authors.forename: Emiel J M
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Hensen
authors.forename: Ed
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: de Jong
authors.forename: Hero J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Heeres
mesh_terms: D002236:Carbohydrate Conformation; D005662:Furaldehyde / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry; D007661:Ketoses / Q000737:chemistry*; D007700:Kinetics; D008958:Models, Molecular; D011789:Quantum Theory; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D007661:Ketoses; D014867:Water; C008046:5-hydroxymethylfurfural; D005662:Furaldehyde
keywords: 5-hydroxymethylfurfural; aldose; biomass; ketose; sugar dehydration