Advanced Room-Temperature Synthesis of 2,5-Bis(hydroxymethyl)furan—A Monomer for Biopolymers—from 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural

Abstract

The use of available renewable sources of raw materials for the production of various organic compounds has long been undoubted and recognized throughout the world. However, the development of efficient “green” catalytic technologies for the processing of bioavailable compounds, namely, the synthesis of catalysts and the selection of optimal process conditions, has become a real challenge for researchers nowadays. In this work, 2,5-bis(hydroxymethyl)furan, an intermediate for the production of a number of biobased polymer materials, was obtained by hydrogenation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural in a yield close to quantitative at room temperature and atmospheric pressure in the presence of a catalytic system with 1% wt of platinum as an active phase supported on ceria–zirconia mixed oxide. On the low-loaded 0.25% Pt/CeO2–ZrO2 catalyst, the yield of the desired alcohol as high as 87% has been achieved after a slight increase of H2 pressure from 0.1 to 0.5 MPa.