One‐Pot, One‐Step Synthesis of 2,5‐Diformylfuran from an Abundant Biomass Source and Low‐Cost Bromide Salts

Abstract

AbstractThe process of synthesizing 2,5‐diformylfuran (DFF) from sucrose involves three sequential steps: hydrolyzing sucrose into fructose and glucose, dehydrating fructose into 5‐hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), and subsequently converting HMF into DFF. In this study, various potassium salts and metal bromides, as well as carbohydrates and solvents, were screened for the production of DFF. It was found that KBr was the optimal catalyst for the one‐pot, one‐step conversion of sucrose to DFF. The influences of reaction time, temperature, reactant/solvent ratio, and reactant/catalyst ratio were also completely investigated for process optimization. HMF from the sucrose hydrolysis and fructose dehydration was oxidized thoroughly to DFF. The maximum DFF yield of 62.5 % was achieved after 6 h at 140 °C in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) with sucrose/KBr weight ratio=5.75 and sucrose/DMSO weight ratio=0.104 as the catalyst in the absence of any additives. The large‐scale process was also tested, the main product was isolated by column chromatography and structurally characterized. By comparing the results of this study to previous ones, the process was proved to have benefits, including the utilization of accessible biomass material, available low‐cost catalyst, energy‐saving method, no oxidants or additives, short reaction time, and high DFF yield with 100 % HMF conversion.