The conversion of polyoxygenated, biomass-derived feedstocks to usable materials precursors or fuels is a field of immense promise for transitioning towards a more sustainable chemical economy. Despite the significant advances made in the past decades to treat polyoxygenated feedstocks with transition metal catalysts, most commercially relevant processes still rely on seemingly simple Brønsted acid catalyzed reactions for biomass pretreatment and hydrolysis. Due to the complexity of the employed biomass substrates, the complexity of reaction networks in such reactions cannot be underestimated.<br/>Our work relies on the premise that understanding reaction pathways that occur in complex, polyoxygenated systems will enable rationally guided optimizations for biomass conversions as well as milder catalytic conditions. Specifically, this talk will discuss (i) the role of halide additives in alcohol dehydration and ether cleavage reactions as well as (ii) approaches to understand structure-function relationships in polymer-based, “cellulase-mimetic” catalysts employed for cellulose hydrolysis. The results of this work suggest new guiding principles for the design of active catalytic systems and their future applications in biomass utilization.

Towards biomass as sustainable feedstock: Understanding mechanisms in halide and solid acid catalysis

254th National Meeting (2017)

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