Production of Sustainable Aromatics from Biorenewable Furans

ed by the ether oxygen of oxanorbornene and dehydration can occur along the pathway illustrated in Figure 7.10. Figure 7.10 Proton transfer from adsorbed DMF to the cycloadduct. At the same time, proton transfer of the acidic H of the adsorbed DMF complex to p-xylene is neither energetically favorable (∆G = +27.6 kcal/mol) and has a significant energy barrier (Ea = +26.6 kcal/mol). Once the proton on the β-C of the DMF complex is abstracted, the previously adsorbed DMF molecule becomes electronically neutral, and it is likely to be displaced at the active site by the newly protonated (and positively charged) oxanorbornene. The mechanism can then proceed as proposed in the pathway