Efficient catalytic conversion of carbohydrates into 5-ethoxymethylfurfural over MIL-101-based sulfated porous coordination polymers

In this work, a series of MIL-101-SO 3 H( x ) polymeric materials were prepared and further used for the first time as efficient heterogeneous catalysts for the conversion of fructose-based carbohydrates into 5-ethoxymethylfurfural (EMF) in a renewable mixed solvent system consisting of ethanol and tetrahydrofuran (THF). The influence of –SO 3 H content on the acidity as well as on the catalytic activity of the porous coordination polymers in EMF production was also studied. High EMF yields of 67.7% and 54.2% could be successively obtained from fructose and inulin in the presence of MIL-101-SO 3 H (100) at 130   °C for 15   h. The catalyst could be reused for five times without significant loss of its activity and the recovery process was facile and simple. This work provides a new platform by application of porous coordination polymers (PCPs) for the production of the potential liquid fuel molecule EMF from biomass in a sustainable solvent system.