title: The Highly Selective and Near-Quantitative Conversion of Glucose to 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural Using Ionic Liquids.
abstract: A number of ionic liquids have been shown to be excellent solvents for lignocellulosic biomass processing, and some of these are particularly effective in the production of the versatile chemical building block 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). In this study, the production of HMF from the simple sugar glucose in ionic liquid media is discussed. Several aspects of the selective catalytic formation of HMF from glucose have been elucidated using metal halide salts in two distinct ionic liquids, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hydrogen sulfate as well as mixtures of these, revealing key features for accelerating the desired reaction and suppressing byproduct formation. The choice of ionic liquid anion is revealed to be of particular importance, with low HMF yields in the case of hydrogen sulfate-based salts, which are reported to be effective for HMF production from fructose. The most successful system investigated in this study led to almost quantitative conversion of glucose to HMF (90% in only 30 minutes using 7 mol% catalyst loading at 120°C) in a system which is selective for the desired product, has low energy intensity and is environmentally benign.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom.|Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Sanan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Eminov
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Agnieszka
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brandt
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: James D E T
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Wilton-Ely
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Jason P
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3431-2371
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Hallett
mesh_terms: D002384:Catalysis; D005662:Furaldehyde / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry; D005947:Glucose / Q000737:chemistry*; D007093:Imidazoles / Q000737:chemistry*; D052578:Ionic Liquids / Q000737:chemistry*; D007700:Kinetics; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D007093:Imidazoles; D052578:Ionic Liquids; C502841:1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride; C008046:5-hydroxymethylfurfural; D005662:Furaldehyde; D005947:Glucose