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Catalytic Conversion of Carbohydrates to Levulinate Ester over Heteropolyanion‐Based Ionic Liquids
Author(s) -
Song Changhua,
Liu Sijie,
Peng Xinwen,
Long Jinxing,
Lou Wenyong,
Li Xuehui
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
chemsuschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.412
H-Index - 157
eISSN - 1864-564X
pISSN - 1864-5631
DOI - 10.1002/cssc.201601080
Subject(s) - ionic liquid , levulinic acid , catalysis , chemistry , yield (engineering) , pyridinium , cellulose , methanol , organic chemistry , raw material , selectivity , materials science , metallurgy
An efficient one‐pot approach for the production of levulinate ester from renewable carbohydrates is demonstrated over heteropolyanion‐based ionic liquid (IL‐POM) catalysts with alcohols as the promoters and solvents. The relationships between the structure, acidic strength, and solubility of the IL‐POM in methanol and the catalytic performance were studied intensively. A cellulose conversion of 100 % could be achieved with a 71.4 % yield of methyl levulinate over the catalyst [PyPS] 3 PW 12 O 40 [PyPS=1‐(3‐sulfopropyl)pyridinium] at 150 °C for 5 h. This high efficiency is ascribed to the reasonably high activity of the ionic liquid (IL) catalyst and reaction coupling with rapid in situ esterification of the generated levulinic acid with the alcohol promoter, which allows the insolubility of cellulose encountered in biomass conversion to be overcome. Furthermore, the present process exhibits high feedstock adaptability for typical carbohydrates and handy catalyst recovery by a simple self‐separation procedure through temperature control.