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Scientists from Denmark and the USA have achieved efficient conversion of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) to valuable chemicals over a Cu-doped porous metal oxide catalyst in supercritical methanol.

HMF (readily obtained from hexose sugars) has been identified as a key platform compound to generate useful renewable chemicals for the fuel industry, such as 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF) and 2,5-dimethyltetrahydrofuran (DMTHF).  However, achieving selective transformation of HMF to a specific product and preventing the formation of undesired side-products remains a challenge.

In this work, a collaboration between scientists at the Technical University of Denmark, Yale University (USA) and the University of California Santa-Barbara (USA) led by Katalin Barta and Andreas Riisager have developed an one-pot procedure for the reduction of HMF.  The catalyst was prepared in aqueous solution from inexpensive and earth-abundant starting materials before undergoing calcination.  By tuning the reaction temperature, DMF or DMTHF and 2-hexanol could be obtained as the major products, and no formation of higher boiling side products or undesired char was detected. 

This article is free to access until the 28th September 2012!  Click on this link below to fine out more…

One-pot reduction of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural viahydrogen transfer from supercritical methanol, Thomas S. Hansen, Katalin Barta, Paul T. Anastas, Peter C. Ford and Anders Riisager, Green Chem., 2012, 14, 2457-2461

You may also be interested in reading this article – free to access for 2 weeks:

Synergy of boric acid and added salts in the catalytic dehydration of hexoses to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural in water, Thomas S. Hansen, Jerrik Mielby and Anders Riisager, Green Chem., 2011, 13, 109-114

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