Aldol condensation reactions between furfural and acetone can be used to produce liquid fuel intermediates.

In this work, glucose was transformed into 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and 5-ethoxymethylfurfural (EMF) in the presence of AlCl3·6H2O and a Brønsted solid acid catalyst (PTSA–POM).

Sn‐β zeolite and PTSA–POM, made from the copolymerization of p‐toluenesulfonic acid (PTSA) and paraformaldehyde (POM), were used for the production of 5‐(hydroxymethyl)furfural (HMF) from glucose in an environmentally friendly solvent system including γ‐valerolactone (GVL) and H2O. The effects of reaction temperature, reaction time, solvent, and catalyst‐to‐reactant ratio on the production of HMF were investigated. The combination of the Brønsted acid and Lewis acid catalysts largely improved the catalytic system and resulted in the production of HMF in 60.1 % yield at 140 °C in 30 min. The presence of water in the solvent had a positive influence on the production of HMF from glucose. The combination of the two catalysts also improved the catalytic performance for the production of HMF from cellulose and corn stalk.

A novel carbon-based solid acid catalyst (SC-GCa-800) was prepared by the high-temperature carbonization of calcium gluconate followed by sulfonation with 4-diazoniobenzenesulfonate at room temperature.

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