Green process for production of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural from carbohydrates with high purity in deep eutectic solvents

5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) is one of the most important platform chemicals in biorefinery. In this work, an effective and green route for 5-HMF production in deep eutectic solvents (DESs) was demonstrated using extremely low concentration of hydrochloric acid as the catalyst. Moreover, the DES/acetonitrile (MeCN) biphasic reaction system adopted in this research showed excellent recyclability, which could be directly reused for multiple times without downgrading of the 5-HMF yield.