Advanced Room-Temperature Synthesis of 2,5-Bis(hydroxymethyl)furan—A Monomer for Biopolymers—from 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural

Abstract

The use of available renewable sources of raw materials for the production of various organic compounds has long been undoubted and recognized throughout the world. However, the development of efficient “green” catalytic technologies for the processing of bioavailable compounds, namely, the synthesis of catalysts and the selection of optimal process conditions, has become a real challenge for researchers nowadays. In this work, 2,5-bis­(hydroxymethyl)­furan, an intermediate for the production of a number of biobased polymer materials, was obtained by hydrogenation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural in a yield close to quantitative at room temperature and atmospheric pressure in the presence of a catalytic system with 1% wt of platinum as an active phase supported on ceria–zirconia mixed oxide. On the low-loaded 0.25% Pt/CeO2–ZrO2 catalyst, the yield of the desired alcohol as high as 87% has been achieved after a slight increase of H2 pressure from 0.1 to 0.5 MPa.

Heterogeneous additive‐free highly selective synthesis of 2,5‐bis(hydroxymethyl)furan over catalysts with ultra‐low Pt content

“…The morphological and textural properties of the ceria–zirconia (CZ) carrier are described in our previous work 15–17 and are presented in the Supporting information (Table S1). Unfortunately, electron microscopical study of the sample with the highest metal loading (0.25% Pt/CZ) did not allow us to distinguish platinum nanoparticles due to its low content; only the support nanoparticles can be observed on the high‐resolution transmission electron microscopical images (Supporting Information, Fig.…”

High-Efficiency Catalytic Transfer Hydrogenation of Biomass-Based 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural to 2,5-Bis(hydroxymethyl)furan over a Zirconium–Carbon Coordination Catalyst

“…Due to the coexistence of the CO bond, CC bond, and C–O bond, biomass-based 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) shows a strong chemical reactivity, which makes it easy to be transformed to various valuable derivatives, so it is widely acknowledged as a versatile platform molecule. − During the upgradation of HMF, selectively hydrogenating HMF to 2,5-bis­(hydroxymethyl)­furan (BHMF) is highly attractive because BHMF has a symmetrical dihydroxyl structure, endowing it with great potential to replace p -phenylenedimethanol. − Moreover, BHMF can also be used to produce a series of high-value ethers, − ketones, − and polymers; − thus, it has drawn tremendous research interests in recent years.…”

Chemocatalytic value addition of glucose without carbon–carbon bond cleavage/formation reactions: an overview

“… 244 Both BHMF and BHMTHF are potential renewable monomers to prepare new generation biopolymers. 245 The glucose to n -hexane transformation through HMF intermediate allows step-wise removal of oxygen atoms from glucose in the form of water without involving the C–C bond scission reactions. Seven moles of hydrogen are required for the transformation of a mole of glucose to n -hexane.…”