Sustainable synthesis of 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furaldehyde and analytical study of the solid by-products

In the last years environmental problems such as pollution, greenhouse effect and lack of fossil materials have driven the interest of scientific community towards the catalytic valorisation of lignocellulosic biomass. In this scenario 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) represents a key molecule and it has been evaluated by US Department of Energy as one of the most important bio-based compounds. In fact HMF could be obtained starting from renewable materials and it represents a platform chemicals for several monomers and bio-fuels that result competitive with those originated from fossil resources. In this work the synthesis of HMF starting from both monosaccharide and polysaccharide has been studied with the aim of identifying as sustainable as possible reaction conditions. Moreover, in this work an analytical study has been conducted on the solid by-product in order to clarify its chemical structure and prove if the substrate could affect it.