Furans chemical oxidation

Anodic addition to an electron-rich heteroaromatic compound is used to transform furan to 2,5-dimethoxy-2,5-dihydrofuran, a valuable synthetic intermediate. Again, an indirect electrochemical process occurs. The bromide ion as redox catalyst is electrochemically oxidized to give bromine, which then acts as chemical oxidant for furan [7] ... 

Maleic anhydride is an important industrial fine chemical (see original citations in [43]). The oxidation of C4-hydrocarbons in air is a highly exothermic process, therefore carried out at low hydrocarbon concentration (about 1.5%) and high conversion. The selectivity of 1-butene to maleic anhydride so far is low. The reaction is composed of a series of elementary reactions via intermediates such as furan and can proceed to carbon dioxide with even larger heat release. As a consequence, hot spots form in conventional fixed-bed reactors, decrease selectivity and favor other parallel reactions. 

In addition to the chemicals included on the other lists, the CDC also included heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, and mercury volatile solvents such as benzene, chloroform, and bromoform decomposition products such as dioxins and furans polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) flammable industrial gases and liquids such as gasoline and propane explosives and oxidizers and all persistent and nonpersistent pesticides. Agents included in this volume are limited to those that are most likely to pose an acute toxicity hazard. 

The most recent entrant-to the. club of commodity chemicals is 1,4-butanediol (BDO), a petrochemical used in some of the more specialized applications such as chemical intermediates for the production of tetrahydro-furane and gama-butyrolactone, polybutylene terephthalate, and the more familiar polyurethanes. Traditionally, the Reppe process was the primary route to BDO, based bn acetylene and formaldehyde feeds. More recently, the share of BDO from butane and propylene oxide based production has grown rapidly. 

Furoic acid (furan-2-carboxylic acid, or pyromucic acid) is used as a bactericide, and the furoate esters are used as flavoring agents, as antibiotic and corticosteroid intermediates. It is obtained by the enzymatic or chemical/catalytic aerobial oxidation of furfural (2-furalaldehyde) the latter is the only unsaturated large-volume organic chemical prepared from carbohydrates today. D-Xylose and L-ara-binose, the pentoses contained in the xylan-rich portion of hemicelluloses from agricultural and forestry wastes, under the conditions used for hydrolysis undergo dehydration to furfural. 

Furan-2,5-dicarboxylic add also has tremendous industrial potential, because it could replace oil-derived diadds such as adipic or terephthalic acid as monomers for polyesters and polyamides [98, 99]. This diadd can be synthesized by Pt-catalyzed oxidation with 02 of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural the latter is obtained by acid-catalyzed dehydration of D-frudose or frudosans (inulin) the latter, however, are too expensive as starting materials, and yields from glucose-based waste raw materials are no higher than 40%. Therefore, the potential attractive option of furan-2,5-dicarboxylic acid will develop only after an effident generation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural from forestry waste materials has been developed. The same compound is also the starting material for the synthesis of other interesting chemicals obtained by oxidative processes, such as 5-hydroxymethylfuroic add, 5-formylfuran-2-carboxylic add and the 1,6-dialdehyde. 

The direct electrochemical methoxylation of furan derivatives represents another technically relevant alkoxylation process. Anodic treatment of furan (14) in an undivided cell provides 2,5-dimethoxy-2,5-dihydrofuran (15). This particular product represents a twofold protected 1,4-dialdehyde and is commonly used as a C4 building block for the synthesis of N-heterocycles in life and material science. The industrial electroorganic processes employ graphite electrodes and sodium bromide which acts both as supporting electrolyte and mediator [60]. The same electrolysis of 14 can be carried out on BDD electrodes, but no mediator is required The conversion is performed with 8% furan in MeOH, 3% Bu4N+BF4, at 15 °C and 10 A/dm2. When 1.5 F/mol were applied, 15 is obtained in 75% yield with more or less quantitative current efficiency. Treatment with 2.3 F/mol is rendered by 84% chemical yield for 15 and a current efficiency of 84% [61, 62]. In contrast to the mediated process, furan is anodically oxidized in the initial step and subsequently methanol enters the scene (Scheme 7). 

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