Zeolite‐Catalyzed Isomerization of Triose Sugars

Abstract

Zeozymes: Sn-Beta zeolite is found to be a highly active catalyst for the conversion of triose sugars. If the solvent is water, isomerization of the triose sugars takes place to form lactic acid in 90 % yield at 125 °C. If methanol is used as the solvent, an overall isomerization–esterification reaction takes place and methyl lactate is formed in quantitative yields at 80 °C. This represents one of the most selective zeolite-catalyzed biomass transformation reactions. Detailed facts of importance to specialist readers are published as ”Supporting Information”. Such documents are peer-reviewed, but not copy-edited or typeset. They are made available as submitted by the authors. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.