Catalytic conversion of fructose and sucrose to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural using simple ionic liquid/DMF binary reaction media

• Simple and efficient ionic liquid/DMF binary reaction media is used.
• A high yield (84%) of HMF is obtained from fructose.
• Investigation of recovery method for HMF from media
• [AMIM]Cl played an important role in the fructose conversion mechanism.

The production of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) from carbohydrates has been reported intensively in recent years. HMF is believed to be a versatile platform chemical and the focus of synthesizing it has especially been on the development of efficient catalysts, such as Lewis and Brønsted Acids. On the contrary, herein, we report a novel catalytic system that consists of 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([AMIM]Cl) and N,N-Dimethylformamide (DMF) without any additional metal salts or acids, which leads to reasonable HMF yields (84.9%) and selectivities. In addition, the degradation mechanism of fructose catalyzed by [AMIM]Cl is also proposed in this communication.

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