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Selective oxidation of biomass-derived furfural to 2(5H)-furanone using trifluoroacetic acid as the catalyst and hydrogen peroxide as a green oxidant

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Abstract

In this work, biomass-derived furfural has been selectively oxidized to 2(5H)-furanone using aqueous hydrogen peroxide as the green oxidant. Among various homogeneous acid catalysts screened for the transformation, trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) was found to be the most suitable candidate that afforded up to 52% isolated yield of 2(5H)-furanone under mild conditions (RT, 1 h). In addition, succinic acid was recovered in nearly 20% yield from the aqueous layer. The organic solvent-free, gram-scale reaction was optimized on temperature, the molar ratio of H2O2 and furfural, and the amount of TFA used.

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Acknowledgments

The authors want to thank Mangalore University, Karnataka, and TIFR, Hyderabad, for helping in the NMR and HPLC data collection.

Funding

This study was financially supported by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India, under Scheme 02(0301)/17/EMR-II.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK), Surathkal, Mangalore, Karnataka, 575025, India

    Navya Subray Bhat, Sib Sankar Mal & Saikat Dutta

  2. Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Hyderabad, Gopanpally, Hyderabad, 500046, India

    Rahul Kumar & Anukul Jana

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Correspondence to Saikat Dutta.

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Supplementary Information

ESM 1

The 1H-NMR spectrum of the crude reaction mixture, NMR spectra (1H, 13C) of the isolated products (i.e., 2-furanone and succinic acid), and HPLC data of the aqueous reaction mixture (before and after extraction of 2-furanone) are provided in the supporting information. (PDF 363 kb)

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Bhat, N.S., Kumar, R., Jana, A. et al. Selective oxidation of biomass-derived furfural to 2(5H)-furanone using trifluoroacetic acid as the catalyst and hydrogen peroxide as a green oxidant. Biomass Conv. Bioref. 13, 1029–1034 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-021-01297-0

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