Ruthenium trichloride catalyzed conversion of cellulose into 5-hydroxymethylfurfural in biphasic system

Lishi Yan; Ruoshui Ma; Huaixin Wei; Liangzhi Li; Bin Zou; Yiwen Xu

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2019.01.120

Ruthenium trichloride catalyzed conversion of cellulose into 5-hydroxymethylfurfural in biphasic system

Bioresour Technol. 2019 May:279:84-91. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2019.01.120. Epub 2019 Jan 25.

Authors

Lishi Yan¹, Ruoshui Ma², Huaixin Wei³, Liangzhi Li³, Bin Zou⁴, Yiwen Xu⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemistry, Biology and Materials Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou 215009, PR China. Electronic address: bruceyan0506@163.com.
² Voiland School of Chemical Engineering & Bioengineering, Washington State University, Richland, WA 99354, USA.
³ School of Chemistry, Biology and Materials Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou 215009, PR China.
⁴ School of Food and Biological Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, PR China.
⁵ School of Chemistry, Biology and Materials Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou 215009, PR China; College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, PR China.

PMID: 30711756
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2019.01.120

Abstract

The production of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) from cellulose catalyzed by a series of transition metal chlorides (i.e. FeCl₃, RuCl₃, VCl₃, TiCl₃, MoCl₃ and CrCl₃) was studied in biphasic system. RuCl₃ was the most efficient catalyst among these transition metal chlorides for 5-HMF production, and resulted in both the highest yield of 83.3% and selectivity of 87.5% in NaCl-aqueous/butanol biphasic system. XRD analysis and FTIR spectroscopy were applied to further characterize the RuCl₃ catalyzed cellulose slurries to reveal the catalytic reaction mechanism. Results demonstrated that RuCl₃ enhanced the decrystallization and cleavage of COC bonds in cellulose, promoted the subsequent dehydration of glucose into 5-HMF, while suppressed the glucose retro-aldol reaction to byproduct lactic acid. In addition, with the assistance of NaCl-aqueous/butanol biphasic system, 5-HMF further degradation was limited and thusly maintained a desired 5-HMF yield. This proposed approach provides an efficient strategy for one-pot conversion of cellulose into 5-HMF.

Keywords: 5-HMF; Biphasic system; Cellulose; RuCl(3); Transition metal chlorides.

MeSH terms

Catalysis
Cellulose / chemistry*
Furaldehyde / analogs & derivatives*
Furaldehyde / chemistry
Glucose / chemistry
Ruthenium Compounds / chemistry*

Substances

Ruthenium Compounds
5-hydroxymethylfurfural
Cellulose
Furaldehyde
Glucose
ruthenium chloride