Fast Synthesis of Hydroxymethylfurfural from Levoglucosenone by Mixing with Sulphuric Acid and Heating in a Microtube Reactor

¹ Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Engineering Sciences
² Institute for Materials Chemistry and Engineering, Kyushu University, 6-1 Kasuga Koen, Kasuga, 816-8580, Japan

^* Corresponding author: shinji_kudo@cm.kyushu-u.ac.jp

Abstract

Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is a promising platform chemical in future bio-based chemical industry for synthesis of a variety of furan derivatives. Studies on the HMF synthesis have focused mainly on saccharides as the feedstock. Recently, levoglucosenone (LGO), anhydrosugar available from cellulose pyrolysis, has been identified as an alternative feedstock, which can be converted to HMF under milder conditions only with acid and water as catalyst and solvent, respectively. To further explore the potential of this reaction, in this study, we demonstrated the HMF synthesis below 100°C within a few minutes at high yields. The employment of microtube reactor and high concentration sulfuric acid as catalyst was effective, leading to the highest HMF yield of 61.5%-C with the reaction selectivity over 80%. Kinetic analysis revealed that rapid heating after mixing LGO with the catalytic aqueous solution was essential to supress side reaction that generates degradation products from LGO. The reaction with glucose or fructose as feedstock under same conditions resulted in poor HMF yield.