Isomerization of glucose into fructose by environmentally friendly Fe/β zeolite catalysts

Herein, the environmentally friendly Fe/β zeolite for glucose isomerization to fructose in aqueous media was reported for the first time. The effects of various reaction conditions including reaction temperature, reaction time, catalyst dosage, etc. on the isomerization reaction over Fe/β zeolite were studied in detail. Under the optimized conditions, yield of fructose higher than 20% were obtained. Moreover, the Fe/β zeolite catalysts were stable and remained constant catalytic activity after five consecutive runs. The possible active Fe species for isomerization of glucose in Fe/β zeolite is also discussed.