Conversion of Fructose and Xylose into Platform Chemicals Using Organo‐Functionalized Mesoporous Material

Abstract 5‐Hydroxymethyl furfural and furfural are considered as platform chemicals. Due to global warming and climate change, more attention is now being paid for renewable feed stocks such as lignocellulosic biomass due to their easy availability for production of these important platform chemicals. Such greener routes for producing value‐added compounds include liquid bio‐fuels in the ranges of C8‐C15 through aldol‐condensation followed by catalytic hydrogenolysis or hydrogenation or hydrodeoxygenation. Herein we describe the use of KIT‐5 mesoporous material functionalized with trifluoromethanesulfonic acid in the conversion of fructose and xylose. The yield of the desired products 5‐hydroxymethyl furfural and furfural were found to be 80 and 75% within 6 hrs, respectively.