Direct conversion of carbohydrates to γ-valerolactone facilitated by a solvent effect

• Published in: Green chemistry : an international journal and green chemistry resource : GC Vol. 17; no. 5; pp. 3084 - 3089
• Main Authors: Cui, Jinglei, Tan, Jingjing, Deng, Tiansheng, Cui, Xiaojing, Zheng, Hongyan, Zhu, Yulei, Li, Yongwang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.05.2015
• Subjects: Carbohydrates; Catalysis; Catalysts; Cellulose; Inulin; Recycling; Solvents; Titanium dioxide
• ISSN: 1463-9262; 1463-9270
• DOI: 10.1039/c5gc00110b

The carbohydrates (cellulose, starch, inulin, maltose, sucrose, glucose and fructose) were converted efficiently into gamma -valerolactone (GVL) over combined H sub(3)PW sub(12)O sub(40) and Ru/TiO sub(2) catalysts under mild conditions. The basicity of oxygen-containing solvents had a remarkable effect on the acid strength of H sub(3)PW sub(12)O sub(40), which resulted in great variation in the yield of GVL. H sub(3)PW sub(12)O sub(40) was more effective in 20 vol% water/ gamma -butyrolactone than in pure water and other water/organic solvents (methanol, ethanol and 1,4-dioxane). GVL yields for inulin and fructose reached 70.5 mol% and 67.6 mol% respectively. Meanwhile, a GVL yield of 40.5 mol% was achieved for cellulose. In addition, a practical method for catalyst recycling and GVL separation was developed by adding sugar into the reaction mixture. H sub(3)PW sub(12)O sub(40) and Ru/TiO sub(2) maintained their activity after three recycling runs.