Catalytic Conversion of Biomass-Derived Carbohydrates into Levulinic Acid Assisted by a Cationic Surface Active Agent

Abstract

Levulinic acid (LA), a bio-renewable chemical building block, has been produced in good isolated yields by treating biomass-derived carbohydrates with aqueous hydrochloric acid in the presence of quaternary ammonium salts as cationic surface-active agent (SAA). Under optimized conditions (120 degrees C, 3 h, 20.2% HCl), the one-pot process afforded LA in 80% isolated yield from glucose using only 5.77 mol% (10 wt%) of benzyl-tributylammonium chloride (BTBAC) at the SAA. The control reaction (no BTBAC) provided LA in only 64% yield from glucose under identical conditions. The process was optimized on the reaction temperature, loading of BTBAC, and the concentration of HCl. The use of BTBAC led to a nearly 8-17% increase in yield of LA (compared to the control reaction) for all the carbohydrates studied.