Efficient one-pot synthesis of 5-ethoxymethylfurfural from fructose catalyzed by heteropolyacid supported on K-10 clay

Synthesis of 5-ethoxymethylfurfural (EMF) from the etherification of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and the dehydrative etherification of fructose over K-10 clay supported dodecatungstophosphoric acid (abbreviated as K-10 clay-HPW). 30% wt.% K-10 clay-HPW was found to be the efficient and robust catalyst for the synthesis of EMF. The highest EMF yield of 91.5% was obtained from HMF after 10 h at 100 °C. Further more, the catalyst also showed high catalytic activity for the dehydrative etherification of fructose with EMF yield of 61.5%. The reaction work-up is very simple and the catalyst could be reused several times without the significant loss of its catalytic activity.