One-pot tandem conversion of fructose into biofuel components with in-situ generated catalyst system

Abstract

In this contribution, one-pot tandem conversion of fructose into biofuel components, including 5-ethoxymethylfurfural (EMF), 2,5-(bis(ethoxymethyl)furan (BEMF) and ethyl levulinate (EL), was performed in an in-situ generated catalyst system through consecutive dehydration, etherification, and transfer hydrogenation. Specifically, ZrOCl2⋅8H2O was in-situ decomposed into HCl and ZrO(OH)2 in ethanol, which effectively catalyzed the dehydration/etherification of fructose to 5-ethoxymethylfurfural (EMF) and subsequent reductive etherification of EMF using ethanol as H-donor, respectively. EMF, BEMF and EL were detected as the main products, and total yield of detectable products of up to 65.4% was obtained at 200 °C in only 2 h.