STUDIES ON CELLULOSE CHEMISTRY II. THE ACTION OF DRY HYDROGEN BROMIDE ON CARBOHYDRATES AND POLYSACCHARIDES^1,2

Direct, High‐Yield Conversion of Cellulose into Biofuel

“…[17] While the conversion was low (12 %), a related study in which anhydrous HBr was employed showed that the bromo analogue of 2 could be produced from cellulose in up to 48 % yield, although glucose itself underwent the reaction in only 11 % yield. [18] Finally, a number of other reports address the preparation of CMF (2) from fructose, [19] which is consistent with the related, facile conversion of the latter into HMF (5). [20] Nowhere in the literature is glucose described giving CMF (2) in good yield.…”

Synthesis of 5‐Bromomethylfurfural from Cellulose as a Potential Intermediate for Biofuel

“…[13] Curiously, glucose and cellobiose gave significantly lower yields (10-23 %). Otherwise, 3 was prepared from 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF, 4) by substitution of the hydroxy group, which is a facile reaction.…”

“…A decrease in the amount of LiBr used ( When the reaction is applied to other carbohydrates the following results were obtained: glucose gave a 50 % yield of 3, whereas cellulose (microcrystalline) surprisingly (but in accordance with ref. [13] ) gave a 80 % yield of 3 (Table 1). Finally 68 % of 3 can be obtained from straw, showing that the method is easily applied to biomass.…”

Correction: Gao, W., et al. Efficient One-Pot Synthesis of 5-Chloromethyl-furfural (CMF) from Carbohydrates in Mild Biphasic Systems. Molecules 2013, 18, 7675-7685

“…Furthermore, while the conversion of cellulose into CMF was low (12%) [14,15], a substantially higher yield (48%) was obtained for the preparation of BMF when dry HBr was employed [16]." We must now state that our references 14 and 15 were incorrect or irrelevant in this context.…”

“…Consequently, these sentences should be changed to: "Examples in the literature include those of Sanda et [14]. Furthermore, while the conversion of cellulose into CMF was low (12%) [15], a substantially higher yield (56%) was obtained for the preparation of BMF when dry HBr was employed [16]." with a new reference 15 as shown below:  While we cited a paper by Mascal et al (our reference 2) and discussed some of the perceived shortcomings of that method, unfortunately in our literature search in preparation for writing this paper we missed a follow-up paper by the same authors that needs to be cited now as new reference 18 (see below), wherein the authors addressed all the problems we had identified for their method.…”