On the Brønsted acid-catalyzed homogeneous hydrolysis of furans

Abstract

Furan affairs: Electronic structure calculations of the homogeneous Brønsted acid-catalyzed hydrolysis of 2,5-dimethylfuran show that proton transfer to the β-position is rate-limiting and provides support that the hydrolysis follows general acid catalysis. By means of projected Fukui indices, we show this to be the case for unsubstituted, 2-, and 2,5-substituted furans with electron-donating groups.

Keywords: Brønsted acids; density functional calculations; homogeneous catalysis; hydrolysis; renewable resources.