An efficient approach for the conversion of glucose into 5-hydroxymethylfurfural under continuous-flow condition

Abstract

5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) has emerged as a promising link between biomass and petrochemical products, offering great potential for application and promising market prospects. In this work, we investigated the catalyst for the synthesis of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) from glucose using metal chloride or ionic liquid bearing Brönsted and Lewis acid using the continuous flow method. Under optimal conditions, a high HMF yield of 58 % was achieved at 120 °C within 20 min using IL 2/DMSO. For the study on metal chlorides, the reaction yield reached about 43 % HMF within 60 min using AlCl₃ (1 mmol) anhydrous. This research presents a remarkably effective method for synthesizing HMF.