Selective Catalytic Dehydration of Xylose to Furfural and Fructose and Glucose to 5‐Hydroximethylfurfural (HMF) Using Preyssler Heteropolyacid

Abstract

Catalytic dehydration of xylose to yield furfural was studied bytesting different heteropolyacid-type catalysts. Preyssler hetero-polyacid (HPA-Preyssler) (H 14 [NaP 5 W 30 O 110 ]) was the mostefficient. Under the optimal reaction conditions, xylose wasdehydrated into furfural with 73% of yield and 95% ofselectivity using DMSO as solvent at 140 ° C for 4 h. The HPA-Preyssler catalyst also exhibited good catalytic activity in thedehydration of fructose and glucose to yield 5-hydroxymeth-ylfurfural (HMF). Thus, from fructose a yield and selectivity toHMF of 97% and 98%, respectively, was obtained in just10 min, while from glucose, 91% of conversion and 23% ofyield were obtained after 9 h. An easy and efficient method-ology for the recovery and reuse of HPA-Preyssler in at least sixreaction cycles without appreciable loss of its initial catalyticactivity is reported.