Chemicals, biomass 2-hydroxymethyl-furfural

In some cases, the hydrolysis reaction liberates the sugars from the biomass and converts them directly into derivatives such as furfural, hydroxymethyl furfural and/or levulinic acid. These derivatives can be further converted into various chemical intermediates. We will not discuss these further conversions as they are extensively reported in the literature, e.g., for furfural [15, 44], hydroxymethyl furfural [15, 44, 50] and levulinic acid [15, 44-47]. 

Abstract The synthesis and chemistry of 5-(hydroxymethyl)furfural (HMF), 5-(chloromethyl)furfural (CMF), and levulinic acid (LA), three carbohydrate-derived platform molecules produced by the chemical-catalytic processing of lignocellulosic biomass, is reviewed. Starting from the historical derivation of these molecules and progressing through modem approaches to their production from biomass feedstocks, this review will then survey their principal derivative chemistries, with particular attention to aspects of commercial relevance, and discuss the relative merits of each molecule in the future of biorefining. 

Keywords 5-(Chloromethyl)furfural 5-(Hydroxymethyl)furfural Biomass Biomass derivatives Biorefinery Catalysis CMF Green chemistry HMF Levulinic acid Platform chemicals Renewable chemistry... 

As discussed in detail in Chapter 1 [1], the chemical-catalytic approach to biomass valorization is poised to come to the fore of biorefinery operations due to its advantages over microbial and thermochemical processing of lignocellulosic feedstocks. Below, we consider three mainstream platform chemicals, collectively referred to as furanics, that are derived from the acid-catalyzed dehydration of carbohydrates. The first, 5-(hydroxymethyl)furfural, or HMF 1, is an icon of the biorefinery movement. With derivatives that branch out over multiple product manifolds, HMF is a recognized commercial opportunity for whoever can manage to produce it economically, and approaches towards the realization of this aim will be discussed. 

Casanova O, Iboira S, Corma A (2010) Chemicals from biomass etherification of 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfural (HMF) into 5,5 (oxy-bis(methylene))bis-2-fifffural (OBMF) with solid catalysts. J Catal 275 236-242... 

Casanova O, Iborra S, Corma A (2009) Biomass into chemicals one pot-base free oxidative esterification of 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfural into 2,5-dimethylfuroate with gold on nanoparticulated ceria. J Catal 265 109-116... 

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