2017 Volume 60 Issue 2 Pages 72-84
Simple transformation of sustainable biomass-resources to value-added chemicals and fuels has become important to diminish our heavy reliance on decreasing petroleum resources. Biomass-derived materials with hydroxyl groups such as 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and glycerol can be obtained from sugars directly and transesterification of triglycerides with methanol as by-products, respectively. These chemicals are versatile starting materials because hydroxyl groups can be easily converted to afford value-added chemicals and fuels under oxidative/reductive conditions using supported metal catalysts. This review overviews recent studies on supported metal catalyzed oxidation reactions of HMF, glycerol and biomass-derived aliphatic α,ω-diols together with our research to develop highly efficient catalytic systems for bio-refining, based on petroleum conversion and nano-technologies. Especially, role of external bases in the selective oxidation of biomass-derived alcohols will be discussed. We found that external base-free oxidation of HMF and glycerol is possible if basic supports are used. The activity of alloyed metal nanoparticles for selective oxidation of aliphatic α,ω-diols to ω-hydroxycarboxylic acids in basic aqueous media at high-pH value is also demonstrated.
