(613d) Catalytic Conversion of Glucose Into Fuels and Chemicals Via 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural

With the depletion of fossil resources and growing concerns about global warming and environmental pollution, the efficient conversion of renewable biomass into fuels and chemicals has recently attracted considerable attention. Among the many possible biomass-derived chemicals, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) has been recognized as a versatile intermediate that can be used for the production of a wide variety of fine chemicals, polymeric materials and biofuels. In the past few years, many researchers have selected fructose as feedstockand excellent HMF yields have been readily achieved using many methods. However, it should be pointed out that fructose is not abundant in nature and its cost is very high, which limit large-scale and sustainable production of HMF. In contrast, glucose is more abundant, available and cheaper than fructose, which is considered as the preferred feedstock for the production of HMF. Disappointingly, many catalytic systems in which fructose is readily converted into HMF are normally ineffective for glucose, which is attributed to stable pyranoside ring structure of glucose. Therefore, there is a strong incentive to develop an efficient process for the production of HMF using glucose as starting material. In this review, the state-of-the-art of catalytic conversion approaches is systematically summarized and discussed. Moreover, some emphasis is also put on the synthesis of HMF-based derivatives including levulinic acid (LA), 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF) and 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA). Furthermore, we also point out some promising research trends in further studies.