Furfural obtained from pentose containing biomass such as hemicelluloses is subjected to photooxygenation. The resulting hydroxyfuranone obtained in high yields undergoes acetalization with fatty alcohols. Using NaHSO 3 , surfactants are obtained by addition of a sulfonate group to α,β-unsaturated carboxyl or carbonyl compounds. Addition occurred either at the CvC double bond (6) or at the aldehyde function (7). Compared to conventional surfactants of this type, the resulting compounds possess similar good detergent properties. In the case of compound family 6 and when compared to the corresponding alkylsulfate and alkylsulfonate surfactants, even lower critical micelle concentrations (CMC) are observed. Biodegradation of the new surfactants was determined according to the OECD Test guideline 301 F. Compounds of family 6 are biodegradable. Biodegradation of compounds of family 7 stopped after 10 days.
The oxidation of starch, xylans, potato flesh and wheat flour by H(2)O(2), in the presence of MSO(4) (M=Cu, Fe) as catalyst, led to depolymerization, and formation of solutions containing polyhydroxycarboxylic acids. Some of these oxidized compounds facilitate the process, leading to efficient transformations even with very low amounts of catalyst.
Current regulations require the substitution of toxic solvents by safer ones. Succinic acid diesters, which are among promising bio-based candidates, have been compared to petrochemical solvents through two complementary approaches. The first one deals with a prediction of solvents dissolution power based on Hansen Solubility Parameters (HSP). HSP values obtained with the model developed by Stefanis-Panayiotou showed good agreement with experimental miscibility maps. The second one explores the physicochemical properties with multivariate statistical methods. Principal Components Analysis and Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering led to a partition of green solvents into clusters together with toxic solvents, suggesting favourable substitutions in further applications.
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