Fabrication of micellar heteropolyacid catalysts for clean production of monosaccharides from polysaccharides

A micellar heteropolyacids (HPAs) catalyst had been prepared using surfactant cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) and H3PW12O40 as precursors. These micellar [C16H33N(CH3)3]xH3 − xPW12O40 had been characterized to be micellar structure and the catalytic activity was evaluated by the hydrolysis of polysaccharides to the reducing sugars. The best catalytic activity was obtained over [C16H33N(CH3)3]H2PW12O40 (abbreviated as (C16TA)H2PW), which showed 100% conversion and 99.6% selectivity within 60 min at 80 °C for hydrolysis of sucrose. And it was also active for the conversion of starch and cellulose. The leaching test showed that the HPA micellar catalysts have an excellent stability and can be used as heterogeneous catalysts for six times.

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► Assembly of HPAs into micellar system with Brønsted acidity.
► Overcoming the diffusion in solid-solid reactions and promoting the reaction rate.
► Easily handing of this catalyst and could be reused about six times.