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1: Science. 2007 Jun 15;316(5831):1597-600.Click here to read Links

Metal chlorides in ionic liquid solvents convert sugars to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural.

Zhao H, Holladay JE, Brown H, Zhang ZC.

Institute for Interfacial Catalysis, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Post Office Box 999, Richland, WA 99352, USA.

Replacing petroleum feedstocks by biomass requires efficient methods to convert carbohydrates to a variety of chemical compounds. We report the catalytic conversion of sugars giving high yield to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), a versatile intermediate. Metal halides in 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride are catalysts, among which chromium (II) chloride is found to be uniquely effective, leading to the conversion of glucose to HMF with a yield near 70%. A wide range of metal halides is found to catalyze the conversion of fructose to HMF. Only a negligible amount of levulinic acid is formed in these reactions.

PMID: 17569858 [PubMed]