Of furfural

When the vigorous reaction commences, the temperature rises to about 105° and remains at this temp>erature for some time. The main quantity of furfural should not be added until the vigorous reaction has started if this precaution is ignored, an explosion may result. 

The analogous dismutation of furfural is described in Section V,8. For crossed Cannizzaro reaction , see discussion following Section IV,199. 

The acid may also be prepared by the condensation of furfural with malonic acid in the presence of pyridine fiiiylmalonic acid is intermediately formed, which is decomposed upon heating In the presence of the base ... 

The oxidative coupling of thiophene, furan[338] and pyrrole[339,340] is also possible. The following order of reactivity was observed in the coupling of substituted furans[338] R = H > Me > CHO > CO Me > CH(OAc)i > CO2H. The cross-coupling of furans and thiophenes with arene is possible, and 4-phenylfurfural (397) is the main product of the cross-coupling of furfural and benzene[341]. 

It was not until the twentieth century that furfural became important commercially. The Quaker Oats Company, in the process of looking for new and better uses for oat hulls found that acid hydrolysis resulted in the formation of furfural, and was able to develop an economical process for isolation and purification. In 1922 Quaker announced the availability of several tons per month. The first large-scale appHcation was as a solvent for the purification of wood rosin. Since then, a number of furfural plants have been built world-wide for the production of furfural and downstream products. Some plants produce as Httie as a few metric tons per year, the larger ones manufacture in excess of 20,000 metric tons. 

The most important physical properties of furfural, as well as similar properties for furfuryl alcohol, tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol and furan are given in Table 1. The tabulated properties of furfural are supplemented by a plot (Fig. 1) of the vapor—Hquid compositions for the system, furfural—water (15,16). 

Furfural is very thermally stable in the absence of oxygen. At temperatures as high as 230°C, exposure for many hours is required to produce detectable changes in the physical properties of furfural, with the exception of color (17). However, accelerating rate calorimetric data shows that a temperature above 250°C, in a closed system, furfural will spontaneously and exothermically decompose to furan and carbon monoxide with a substantial increase in pressure. The pressure may increase to 5000 psi or more, sufficient to shatter the container (18). 

Nitration and halogenation of furfural occurs under carehiUy controlled conditions with introduction of the substituent at the open 5-position (24,25). Nitration of furfural is usually carried out in the presence of acetic anhydride, resulting in the stable compound, 5-nitrofurfuryhdene diacetate (26,27). The free aldehyde is isolated by hydrolysis and must be used immediately in a reaction because it is not very stable. 

Several early interpretations of the polymerization mechanism have been proposed (1,17,29—31). Because of the complexity of this polymerization and insoluble character of the products, key intermediates have not ordinarily been isolated, nor have the products been characterized. Later work, however, on the resinification of furfural (32,33) has provided a new insight on the polymerization mechanism, particularly with respect to thermal reaction at 100—250°C in the absence of air. Based on the isolation and characterization of two intermediate products (9) and (10), stmcture (11) was proposed for the final resin. This work also explains the color produced during resinification, which always is a characteristic of the final polymer (33). The resinification chemistry is discussed in a recent review (5). 

The presence of stable free radicals in the final polycondensate is supported by the observation that traces of (11) have a strong inhibiting effect on the thermal polymerization of a number of vinyl monomers. Radical polymerization was inhibited to a larger extent by a furfural resin than by typical polymerization inhibitors (34). Thermal degradative methods have been used to study the stmcture of furfural resinifted to an insoluble and infusible state, leading to proposed stmctural features (35). 

The pentosan polysaccharides, xylan and arabinan, commonly known as hemiceUulose, are the principal precursors of furfural and are always found together with lignin and cellulose in plant materials. 

Strong inorganic acid can be used as a reaction catalyst, or if the temperature is raised high enough, sufficient acetic acid is produced by the heat to cataly2e formation of furfural. 

The estimation of furfural potential of various raw materials is best done by the AO AC method (1). Although Hquid chromatographic methods are now available for the estimation of polymeric pentosans, results do not always correlate well with furfural formation. 

The flash point of furfural is 143°F by Tag Closed Cup. Because of its chemical reactivity, furfural should be kept away from strong acids, alkaHes or strong oxidi2ing chemicals. When furfural is stored for long periods in contact with air, there is a gradual darkening of color, increase in acidity, and formation of a soluble polymer. 

The principal direct appHcation of furfural is as a selective solvent. It is used for separating saturated from unsaturated compounds in petroleum refining, for the extractive distillation of butadiene and other hydrocarbons in the manufacture of synthetic mbber and for the production of... 

Useful thermosetting resins are obtained by interaction of furfural with phenol. The reaction occurs under both acidic and basic catalysis. Other large uses of furfural together with phenol are in the manufacture of resin-bonded grinding wheels and coated abrasives (5). 

Furfural reacts with ketones to form strong, crosslinked resins of technical interest in the former Soviet Union the U.S. Air Force has also shown some interest (42,43). The so-called furfurylidene acetone monomer, a mixture of 2-furfurylidene methyl ketone [623-15-4] (1 )> bis-(2-furfurylidene) ketone [886-77-1] (14), mesityl oxide, and other oligomers, is obtained by condensation of furfural and acetone under basic conditions (44,45). Treatment of the "monomer" with an acidic catalyst leads initially to polymer of low molecular weight and ultimately to cross-linked, black, insoluble, heat-resistant resin (46). 

Furfural has been used as a component in many resin appHcations, most of them thermosetting. A comprehensive review of the patent Hterature describing these uses is beyond the scope of this review. A few, selected recent patents and journal articles have been referenced. Resins prepared from the condensation products of furfural with urea (47), formaldehyde (48), phenols (49,50), etc, modified by appropriate binders and fillers are described in the technical Hterature for earlier appHcations, see reference 1, which contains many references in an appendix. 

Manufacture. Furfuryl alcohol has been manufactured on an industrial scale by employing both Hquid-phase and vapor-phase hydrogenation of furfural (56,57). Copper-based catalysts are preferred because they are selective and do not promote hydrogenation of the ring. 

Manufacture. Furan is produced commercially by decarbonylation of furfural in the presence of a noble metal catalyst (97—100). Nickel or cobalt catalysts have also been reported (101—103) as weU as noncatalytic pyrolysis at high temperature. Furan can also be prepared by decarboxylation of 2-furoic acid this method is usually considered a laboratory procedure. 

Other furan compounds, best derived from furfural, are of interest although commercial volumes are considerably less than those of furfural, furfuryl alcohol, furan, or tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol. Some of these compounds are stiU in developmental stages. Apphcations include solvents, resin intermediates, synthetic mbber modifiers, therapeutic uses, as well as general chemical intermediates. 

Therapeutics. Compounds containing the furan or tetrahydrofuran ring are biologically active and are present in a number of pharmaceutical products. Eurfurjdamine [617-89-0] is an intermediate in the diuretic, furosemide. Tetrahydrofurfurylamine [4795-29-3] may also have pharmaceutical applications. 5-(E)imethyiaininomethyi)furfuryi alcohol [15433-79-17 is an intermediate in the preparation of ranitidine, which is used for treating ulcers. 2-Acet5dfuran [1192-62-7] prepared from acetic anhydride and furan is an intermediate in the synthesis of cefuroxime, a penicillin derivative. 2-Euroic acid is prepared by the oxidation of furfural. Both furoic acid [88-14-2] and furoyl chloride [527-69-5] are used as pharmaceutical intermediates. 

Table 3. Toxic Effects of Furfural and Main Derivatives ...

These precursors are prepared by reaction of fuming nitric acid in excess acetic anhydride at low temperatures with 2-furancarboxaldehyde [98-01-1] (furfural) or its diacetate (16) followed by treatment of an intermediate 2-acetoxy-2,5-dihydrofuran [63848-92-0] with pyridine (17). This process has been improved by the use of concentrated nitric acid (18,19), as well as catalytic amounts of phosphoms pentoxide, trichloride, and oxychloride (20), and sulfuric acid (21). Orthophosphoric acid, -toluenesulfonic acid, arsenic acid, boric acid, and stibonic acid, among others are useful additives for the nitration of furfural with acetyl nitrate. Hydrolysis of 5-nitro-2-furancarboxyaldehyde diacetate [92-55-7] with aqueous mineral acids provides the aldehyde which is suitable for use without additional purification. 

In acidic solution, the degradation results in the formation of furfural, furfuryl alcohol, 2-furoic acid, 3-hydroxyfurfural, furoin, 2-methyl-3,8-dihydroxychroman, ethylglyoxal, and several condensation products (36). Many metals, especially copper, cataly2e the oxidation of L-ascorbic acid. Oxalic acid and copper form a chelate complex which prevents the ascorbic acid-copper-complex formation and therefore oxalic acid inhibits effectively the oxidation of L-ascorbic acid. L-Ascorbic acid can also be stabilized with metaphosphoric acid, amino acids, 8-hydroxyquinoline, glycols, sugars, and trichloracetic acid (38). Another catalytic reaction which accounts for loss of L-ascorbic acid occurs with enzymes, eg, L-ascorbic acid oxidase, a copper protein-containing enzyme. 

Manufacturing. Almost all the THE in the United States is currendy produced by the acid-catalyzed dehydration of 1,4-butanediol [10-63-4]. Only one plant in the United States still makes THE by the hydrogenation of furfural (29). Du Pont recendy claimed a new low cost process for producing THE from / -butane that they plan to commercialize in 1995 (30—32). The new process transport-bed oxidizes / -butane to cmde maleic anhydride, then follows with a hydrogen reduction of aqueous maleic acid to THE (30). 

African sleeping sickness and, 1, 180 as chemotherapeutic agent, 1, i80 veterinary use, 1, 208 Furfuracryluric acid as metabolite of furfural, 1, 245... 

The yield of furfural from xylose is improved by countercurrent extraction with tetraJin (Schoenemann, Proc. 2d Europ. Symp. Chem. React. Eng., Pergamon, 1961, p. 30). 

Dehydrogenation processes in particular have been studied, with conversions in most cases well beyond thermodynamic equihbrium Ethane to ethylene, propane to propylene, water-gas shirt reaction CO -I- H9O CO9 + H9, ethylbenzene to styrene, cyclohexane to benzene, and others. Some hydrogenations and oxidations also show improvement in yields in the presence of catalytic membranes, although it is not obvious why the yields should be better since no separation is involved hydrogenation of nitrobenzene to aniline, of cyclopentadiene to cyclopentene, of furfural to furfuryl alcohol, and so on oxidation of ethylene to acetaldehyde, of methanol to formaldehyde, and so on. 

Furancarboxylic acid may be prepared by the dry distillation of mucic acid, by the oxidation of furfural with potassium... 

Furylcarbinol has been prepared by the reduction of furfural with sodium amalgam but the Cannizzaro reaction is the better practical method of preparation. 

Furfural (i, 49).—The low yield of furfural from straw and other materials makes it desirable to extract the aqueous furfural distillate after acid hydrolysis by a solvent heavier than... 

By the oxidation of furfural with potassium dichromate and sulfuric acid in 75 per cent yield. Hurd, Garrett, and Osborne, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 55, 1084 (1933). 

Adenosine-3 -monophosphoric acid hydrate [3 -adenylic acid, 3 -AMP] [84-21-9] M 347.3, m 197°(dec, as 2H2O), 210°(dec), m 210°(dec), [a]s46 -50° (c 0.5, 0.5M Na2HP04), pK 3.65, pKz 6.05. It crystallises from large volumes of H2O in needles as the monohydrate, but is not very soluble in boiling H2O. Under acidic conditions it forms an equilibrium mixture of 2 and 3 adenylic acids via the 2, 3 -cyclic phosphate. When heated with 20% HCl it gives a quantitative yield of furfural after 3hours, unlike 5 -adenylic acid which only gives traces of furfural. The yellow monoacridine salt has m 175°(dec) and... 

The two intermediates of commercial furan resins are furfural and furfuryl alcohol. Furfural occurs in the free state in many plants but is obtained commercially by degradation of hemicellulose constituents present in these plants. There are a number of cheap sources of furfural, and theoretical yields of over 20% (on a dry basis) may be obtained from both com cobs and oat husks. In practice yields of slightly more than half these theoretical figures may be obtained. In the USA furfural is produced in large quantities by digestion of com cobs with steam and sulphuric acid. The furfural is removed by steam distillation. 

---