Recent Advances in Photocatalytic Transformation of Carbohydrates Into Valuable Platform Chemicals

Abstract

In response to the less accessible fossil resources and deteriorating environmental problems, catalytic conversion of the abundant and renewable lignocellulosic biomass to replace fossil resources for the production of value-added chemicals and fuels is of great importance. Depolymerization of carbohydrate and its derivatives can obtain a series of C5-C6 monosaccharides (e.g., glucose and xylose) and their derived platform compounds (e.g., HMF and furfural). Selective transformation of lignocellulose using sustainable solar energy via photocatalysis has attract broad interest from a growing scientific community. The unique photogenerated reactive species (e.g., h+, e−, •OH, •O2−, and 1O2), novel reaction pathways as well as the mild reaction conditions make photocatalysis a “dream reaction.” This review is aimed to provide an overview of the up-to-date contributions achieved in the selective photocatalytic transformation of carbohydrate and its derivatives. Photocatalytic methods, properties and merits of different catalytic systems are well summarized. We then put forward future perspective and challenges in this field.

One-Pot Ethyl Acetate Production from Ethanol Photooxidation on Rutile TiO2(110): Strong Photon Energy Dependence

“…By using different photocatalysts, different kinds of photocatalytic reactions can be accomplished with solar energy, such as hydrogen production from water (H 2 O) splitting, pollutant removal, N 2 fixation, CO 2 reduction, and organic synthesis reactions . Among various photocatalysts, titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) is one of the most promising materials and has triggered broad interest in sustainable production of value-added products from biomass for decades. − Therefore, considerable research interest has been focused on thermal and photocatalytic conversion of EtOH using both TiO 2 powders − and single crystalline TiO 2 surfaces, − aiming to get an improved fundamental understanding for EtOH conversion and facilitate the development of efficient catalytic systems. Because of the stability and easy preparation of a rutile­(R)-TiO 2 (110) surface, both thermal chemistry and photochemistry of EtOH on this surface have been extensively investigated by means of surface science techniques. − It has been well established that EtOH molecules dissociatively adsorb on the bridging oxygen vacancies (O v ) and step edges of R-TiO 2 (110) .…”

Electro‐ and Photocatalytic Oxidative Upgrading of Bio‐based 5‐Hydroxymethylfurfural

“…In the photocatalytic system, when strong oxidizing species are produced, the HMF is usually peroxidation and/or mineralization to H 2 O and CO 2 , and the target product selectivity is poor. [10,111,112] Herein, we focused on advances in the photooxidation of HMF to high-value bio-chemicals (i. e., DFF and FDCA) and oxidation of HMF to high-value bio-chemicals coupled with HER. It is a challenge as well as an opportunity to develop a photocatalytic system for efficient catalytic oxidation of HMF into high value-added chemicals.…”

Progress in Development of Photocatalytic Processes for Synthesis of Fuels and Organic Compounds under Outdoor Solar Light

“…The latter is another valuable precursor to a number of furan-based building blocks, as demonstrated in Scheme 2 . 61 …”

“…The latter is another valuable precursor to a number of furan-based building blocks, as demonstrated in Scheme 2. 61 To this day, there are few examples of photocatalytic biomass and biomass-derived molecules processing performed under actual solar irradiation, and the research is mostly centered around biomass-to-hydrogen conversion and transformation to small furan molecules.…”