(567bn) Integrating Enzymatic and Acid Catalysis to Convert Glucose Into 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural

Biomass, especially lignocellulose (the most abundant renewable biomass), is currently regarded as an alternative source of carbon for both fuels and chemical intermediates. Non-fermentative pathways to biomass transformation that exploit all of the available carbon present have become the focus of world attention. One of the most attractive directions is towards furan derivatives, such as 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), a sustainable precursor for the preparation of non-petroleum derived polymeric materials and fine chemicals[1, 2]. Current processes to produce HMF from glucose involve the use of metal chlorides in ionic liquid solvents[2]. The high price of ionic liquids and the need for purification after recycling have limited industrialization of these processes. In our work, a convenient and cost-efficient method featuring the integration of enzymatic and acid catalysis has been developed for the selective conversion of glucose into HMF. Borate-assisted isomerase was used to convert glucose into fructose, leading to high fructose yield, and then the resulting sugar mixtures were dehydrated in water/butanol media to produce HMF. A total 63.3% HMF yield from glucose was achieved when the mixture was heated in an oil bath at 463 K for 45 min. This green and cost-efficient approach provided a new route to produce large-scaled HMF from glucose, which avoided the use of expensive solvents and thus significantly reduced its operating cost. In view of the importance of HMF in renewable chemical industry, this process may provide a new avenue for HMF production, and further accelerate the commercial application of HMF. [1]Roman-Leshkov Y., Chheda J. N., and Dumesic J. A. Phase modifiers promote efficient production of hydroxymethylfurfural from fructose. Science, 312, 1933-1937, 2006. [2]Zhao H. B., Holladay J. E., Brown H. and Zhang Z. C. Metal chlorides in ionic liquid solvents convert sugars to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural. Science, 316, 1597-1600, 2007.