In order to promote research efforts on biobased products and processes, the US Department of Energy (DOE) has highlighted a list of top biobased platform chemicals derived from biorefinery carbohydrates. Among these platform chemicals, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is considered an important intermediate for the production of various biobased fuel additives and polymeric materials. Inulin (or fructose), which is naturally sourced from chicory roots, is commonly used for the synthesis of HMF, and numerous solid catalysts have been developed for this process. However, it has been recognized that catalyst deactivation often occurs due to the accumulation of insoluble humins (byproduct) on the catalyst surfaces over time, posing a difficulty for catalyst reuses. In our work, a novel magnetically separable nanoparticle catalyst (Fe3O4@SiO2@TiO2− H3PW12O40) was synthesized for the conversion of inulin (or fructose) to HMF, and the magnetic property of the catalyst could possibly provide an easy solution for the difficulty for the separation of the catalyst from humins. Another obstacle impeding the wide application of HMF is that HMF is known to be unstable and tends to polymerize with prolonged storage, and therefore there has been of great interest in upgrading HMF to more stable derivatives, such as 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) and 2,5-bis(hydroxymethyl)furan (BHMF). For example, we have demonstrated a non-transition metal system for the aerobic oxidation of HMF to FDCA, as well as an efficient electrocatalytic system for the reduction of HMF to BHMF over Ag-displaced nanotextured Cu catalysts. The catalysts were reused for several times, and no catalyst deactivation was observed. While HMF is widely studied as a precursor for the production of biobased polyesters, there is a great potential for the production of polyurethanes from HMF. Nowadays, most polyurethane products (e.g. foams and coatings) are produced from nonrenewable diols (or polyols) and hazardous diisocyanates. In our work, a number of HMF-based polyurethanes were synthesized through non-isocyanate routes, and a number of analytical techniques were used to characterize the polyurethanes. The results indicated that these HMF-based polyurethanes had great potentials for substituting traditional polyurethanes.

Catalytic conversion of carbohydrates to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and its potential for the production of non-isocyanate polyurethanes

2019 Spring National Meeting

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