Carbohydrate structure-activity relations of Au-catalysed base-free oxidations: gold displaying a platinum lustre.

This paper describes the base-free gold-catalysed oxidation of four different carbohydrates in a packed bed plug flow reactor. The influence of the carbohydrate structure on the catalytic activity and selectivity was investigated by comparing two neutral sugars (glucose (Glc) and galactose (Gal), both with primary alcohols at C6), with their sugar-acid analogues (glucuronic acid (GlcA) and galacturonic acid (GalA), both with carboxylic acids at C6). The orientation of OH-groups at the C4-position ( in Glc/GlcA and in Glc/GlcA), and the C6-functionality (primary alcohols in Gal/Glc and carboxylic acids in GalA/GlcA) has a profound influence on the catalytic activity.

The effect of me-substituents of 1,4-butanediol analogues on the thermal properties of biobased polyesters.

Biobased 1,4-butanediol analogues are used to tune the glass transition temperature and crystallization in a series of polyesters and allow for the formation of stereocomplexes.

Methyl Perillate as a Highly Functionalized Natural Starting Material for Terephthalic Acid.

Renewable commodity chemicals can be generated from plant materials. Often abundant materials such as sugars are used for this purpose. However, these lack appropriate functionalities and, therefore, they require extensive chemical modifications before they can be used as commodity chemicals.

Synthesis of Furandicarboxylic Acid Esters From Nonfood Feedstocks Without Concomitant Levulinic Acid Formation.

5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is a versatile intermediate in biomass conversion pathways. However, the notoriously unstable nature of HMF imposes challenges to design selective routes to chemicals such as furan-2,5-dicarboxylic acid (FDCA). Here, a new strategy for obtaining furans is presented, bypassing the formation of the unstable HMF.

Waste not, want not: mild and selective catalytic oxidation of uronic acids.

And isn't it uronic: A mild, highly efficient and selective catalytic oxidation of pectin-derived uronic acids to the corresponding aldaric acids is reported. Fast, quantitative conversions (>99%) of the starting materials are achieved with high selectivity (>97%) at room temperature, using supported gold catalysts and air as oxidizing agent.

Functionalized carbon nanofibers as solid-acid catalysts for transesterification.

Carbon nanofibers (CNFs) were functionalized with aryl sulfonic acid groups using in situ diazonium coupling. The use of diazonium coupling yielded an acidic carbon material, in which the introduced acidic groups are readily accessible to the triglyceride substrate. The material is an efficient catalyst for the transesterification of triolein and methanol, outperforming conventional sulfonated carbons in both stability and activity per acid site.