Researchers from Zelinsky Institute developed a promising synthetic approach for the use in effective industrial processing of biomass

5-(Hydroxymethyl)furfural, which can be easily obtained from biomass (a renewable natural resource), has attracted a considerable attention as one of the most important polyfunctional platforms for the production of a variety of organic compounds. The use of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural and its derivatives to replace non-renewable resources for the production of biofuels, polymers, solvents, pharmaceuticals, and other useful molecules is a very important task.

One of the research direction of the Laboratory №30 ZIOC RAS is the development of new synthetic approaches to various classes of organic compounds based on 5-hydroxymethylfurfural and its derivatives. In their recent work, the researchers succeeded in finding of an efficient process of C-H functionalization of 2,5-diformylfuran at the low-reactive 3rd position. It should be also noted that the reaction proceeds without the use of directing groups in the starting substrates and ligands. The obtained compounds also demonstrated their high synthetic potential in the reactions of reduction and oxidation of carbonyl groups. Such a simple and effective synthetic approach is extremely promising for further application in the direction of efficient industrial processing of biomass.

Source:

B. Ya. Karlinskii, A. Yu. Kostyukovich, F. A. Kucherov, K. I. Galkin, K. S. Kozlov, and V. P. Ananikov Directing-Group-Free, Carbonyl Group-Promoted Catalytic C−H Arylation of Bio-Based Furans ACS Catal. 2020, 10, 11466−11480. DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.0c02143.