MCM-41 Immobilized Acidic Functional Ionic Liquid and Chromium(III) Complexes Catalyzed Conversion of Hexose into 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural

The development of novel methods to obtain biofuels and chemicals from biomass has been an immediate issue in both academic and industrial communities. In this work, a series of novel catalysts were prepared and characterized by FT-IR, TGA, XRD, SEM, TEM, ICP-AES, NH 3 -TPD and BET, which were applied for the conversion of hexose to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). The Cr(Salten)-MCM-41-[(CH 2 ) 3 SO 3 HVIm]HSO 4 catalyst was the most active catalyst, and a glucose conversion of 99.8% with 50.2% HMF yield was obtained at 140 °C for 4 h in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). The effects of reaction temperature, reaction time, solvents and catalyst dosages were investigated in detail. MCM-41 immobilized acidic functional ionic liquid and chromium(III) Schiff base complexes as heterogeneous catalysts can be easily recovered by simple filter treatment, exhibiting excellent stability and activity towards hexose conversion. Thus the heterogeneous catalysts were environment-friendly for transforming biomass carbohydrates into fine chemicals.