Effect of the structure of mesoporous carbon-based and mesoporous silica-based solid acid catalysts on the catalytic conversion of glucose to 5-HMF

The depletion of fossil fuel reserves, coupled with the emergence of various pollution issues, has precipitated a surge in demand for research in the domains of bioenergy and biochemical research. 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) is regarded as a bridge material connecting petrochemical industries and natural biomass resources. Due to the extremely low yield of one-step conversion from cellulose to 5-HMF, most studies have chosen glucose as the starting material. However, glucose isomerization remains one of the challenging steps in the conversion process. Here we successfully prepared a metal chromium-loaded sulfonated mesoporous carbon-based solid acid catalyst (Cr–SO 3 H-CSA) with a large pore size (7.844 nm) and high acidity (14.304 mmol NH3 ·g⁻ 1 cat), as well as a mesoporous silica-based solid acid catalyst (Cr–SO 3 H-MCM41). The catalytic conversion of glucose to 5-HMF over these catalysts afforded yields of 96.43% and 79.45%, respectively. Compared with other types of solid acids reported in the literature, the catalysts prepared in this study exhibit superior catalytic performance for the conversion of glucose to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF). Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the structure of the catalyst support has a significant impact on the catalytic effect. This work expands the choice of catalysts for efficient conversion of biomass into 5-HMF and provides insights into the effect of support structure on catalyst preparation. Graphical