(560am) Enhanced Glucose Dehydration to 5-Hydroxymethyl Furfural through Encapsulated Phosphotungstic Acid in Metal Organic Frameworks

5-hydroxymethy furfural (HMF) is a versatile bio-based renewable chemical platform because it can serve as a building block for the productions of liquid fuels and fine chemicals. HMF can be produced by glucose dehydration. Typically, both Lewis and Brønsted acid sites are needed for glucose isomerization to fructose and fructose dehydration to HMF, respectively. This study explores the synergy between phosphotungstic acid (PTA) and MIL-101(M) (M= Cr, Al, and Fe) for cascade reaction of glucose isomerization to fructose and fructose dehydration to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). We hypothesize that the synergy between Brønsted acid from PTA and Lewis acid/Brønsted base from MIL-101(M) enhances the selectivity toward HMF in ionic liquid. We conducted the experiments by encapsulating PTA in MIL-101(M). This paper reveals the synergy between the BrØnsted and Lewis acid sites for glucose dehydration to HMF. The aluminum nodes provide Lewis acidity and the presence of the –NH₂ functional groups from linkers gives Brønsted bases. Together, they enhance the glucose isomerization to fructose. The encapsulated PTA dehydrated the resulting fructose to HMF. We obtained 54% HMF selectivity at 38% conversion using 120°C for 2h. The encapsulated MOFs exploit the high selectivity from single-site metal nodes and encapsulated species for additional catalytic sites for cascade reactions. This strategy allows the design of the multi-functional catalysts for one-pot reaction.