Solvent Effects in Acid-Catalyzed Biomass Conversion Reactions

Solvent effects in acid-catalyzed biomass conversion reactions.

Reaction kinetics were studied to quantify the effects of polar aprotic organic solvents on the acid-catalyzed conversion of xylose into furfural. A solvent of particular importance is γ-valerolactone (GVL), which leads to significant increases in reaction rates compared to water in addition to increased product selectivity. GVL has similar effects on the kinetics for the dehydration of 1,2-pro...

Organic Solvent Effects in Biomass Conversion Reactions.

Transforming lignocellulosic biomass into fuels and chemicals has been intensely studied in recent years. A large amount of work has been dedicated to finding suitable solvent systems, which can improve the transformation of biomass into value-added chemicals. These efforts have been undertaken based on numerous research results that have shown that organic solvents can improve both conversion ...

Metal-Catalyzed Hydrocarbon Conversion Reactions†

Palladium-catalyzed acetylene trimerization and the metathesis of olefins catalyzed by molybdenum and its oxides are investigated in ultrahigh vacuum and at high pressures. Benzene is formed on Pd(111) by the reaction between adsorbed acetylene and a surface C4 metallocycle. The resulting benzene evolves in temperature-programmed desorption in two distinct states. The low-temperature state is p...

Microwave-assisted enzyme-catalyzed reactions in various solvent systems.

The work describes the accelerated enzymatic digestion of several proteins in various solvent systems under microwave irradiation. The tryptic fragments of the proteins were analyzed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry. Under the influence of rapid microwave heating, these enzymatic reactions can proceed in a solvent such as chloroform, which, under traditional dige...

Zeolite-catalyzed biomass conversion to fuels and chemicals