Efficient synthesis of 5-ethoxymethylfurfural from biomass-derived 5-hydroxymethylfurfural over sulfonated organic polymer catalyst.

Herein, we investigated catalytic potential of a functionalized porous organic polymer bearing sulfonic acid groups (PDVTA-SOH) to the etherification of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) to 5-ethoxymethylfurfural (EMF) under solvent-free conditions. The PDVTA-SOH material was synthesized post-synthetic sulfonation of the porous co-polymer poly-divinylbenzene--triallylamine by chlorosulfonic acid. The physicochemical properties of the PDVTA-SOH were characterized by FT-IR, SEM, TG-DTG, and N adsorption isotherm techniques. PDVTA-SOH had high specific surface area (591 m g) and high density of -SOH group (2.1 mmol g). The reaction conditions were optimized Box-Behnken response surface methodology. Under the optimized conditions, the PDVTA-SOH catalyst exhibited efficient catalytic activity with 99.8% HMF conversion and 87.5% EMF yield within 30 min at 110 °C. The used PDVTA-SOH catalyst was readily recovered by filtration and remained active in recycle runs.