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Australian Journal of Chemistry Australian Journal of Chemistry Society
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RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

Ru/MgO-catalysed selective aerobic oxidation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural to 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid

Priya Lokhande A B C , Paresh L. Dhepe A B * , Karen Wilson D * and Adam F. Lee https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2153-1391 D *
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Catalysis and Inorganic Chemistry Division, Council of Scientific & Industrial Research–National Chemical Laboratory, Dr Homi Bhabha Road, Pune, 411008, India.

B Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad, 201002, India.

C Catalysis, School of Science, RMIT University, Melbourne, Vic. 3001, Australia.

D Centre for Catalysis and Clean Energy, Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus, Southport, Qld 4222, Australia.


Handling Editor: Curt Wentrup

Australian Journal of Chemistry 77, CH24082 https://doi.org/10.1071/CH24082
Submitted: 19 June 2024  Accepted: 28 August 2024  Published online: 30 September 2024

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Biomass valorisation through the selective oxidation of carbohydrate and lipid derivatives offers access to an array of platform chemicals through energy- and atom-efficient catalytic processes. Supported metal nanoparticles are promising catalysts for the aerobic selective oxidation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) to 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA), but typically require strong liquid base to achieve high selectivity. Here, we explore the utility of MgO as a solid base support for the Ru-catalysed aerobic oxidation of HMF, obtaining 68% FDCA yield at 160°C and 1.5 MPa of O2 using <1 mol-% metal.

Keywords: bifunctional, biomass, catalysis, MgO, monomer, oxidation, platform chemical, ruthenium.

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