Effective Strategy for High-Yield Furan Dicarboxylate Production for Biobased Polyester Applications

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/acscatal.9b00450

A unique strategy for the formation of furan-2,5-dicarboxylic acid (FDCA)-derived esters with methanol and ethylene glycol in concentrated solutions was reported using a six-membered ring acetal of (5-hydroxymethyl)furfural (HMF) with 1,3-propanediol in order to improve the economics for the production of polyethylene 2,5-furandicarboxylate (PEF), a biobased polyester. Aerobic oxidative esterification with methanol and ethylene glycol in the presence of a CeO₂-supported Au catalyst gave 80-95% yields of methyl furan-2,5-dicarboxylate and bis(2-hydroxyethyl)furan-2,5-dicarboxylate from concentrated HMF-acetal solutions (10-20 wt %). Kinetic studies combined with density functional theory (DFT) calculations were used to identify two key steps for the conversion of the cyclic acetal ring to the corresponding methyl ester: (i) partial hydrolysis of the acetal ring by OH^- ions and (ii) subsequent oxidation of the hemiacetal in solution by molecular O₂ on Au nanoparticles. These results represent a significant contribution not only to cutting-edge conversion technology for renewable biomass feedstocks to PEF-based applications but also to opportunities for the efficient conversion of substrates with a reactive formyl group in high yield.

Full text of DOI:10.1021/acscatal.9b00450

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Article
An effective strategy for high-yield furan dicarboxylate
production for biobased polyester applications
Minjune Kim, Ya-Qiong Su, Takayuki Aoshima, Atsushi Fukuoka, Emiel J.M. Hensen, and Kiyotaka Nakajima
ACS Catal., Just Accepted Manuscript • DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.9b00450 • Publication Date (Web): 03 Apr 2019
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An effective strategy for high-yield furan
dicarboxylate production for biobased polyester
applications
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Minjune Kim,1 Yaqiong Su,2 Takayuki Aoshima,3 Atsushi Fukuoka,1 Emiel J. M. Hensen,2,* and
Kiyotaka Nakajima1,4,*
1Institute for Catalysis, Hokkaido University, Kita 21 Nishi 10, Kita-ku, Sapporo 001-0021,
2
Japan. Inorganic Materials Chemistry, Schuit Institute of Catalysis, Department of Chemical
Engineering and Chemistry, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB
3
Eindhoven, The Netherlands, Yokohama R&D Center, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, 1000
Kamoshida-cho, Aoba-ku, Yokohama-shi 227-8502, Japan, 4Advanced Low Carbon Technology
Research and Development Program (ALCA), Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), 4-
1-8 Honcho, Kawaguchi 332-0012, Japan.
ABSTRACT: A unique strategy for the formation of furan-2,5-dicarboxylic acid (FDCA)-
derived esters with methanol and ethylene glycol in concentrated solutions was reported using a
six-membered ring acetal of (5-hydroxymethyl)furfural (HMF) with 1,3-propanediol, in order to
improve the economics for the production of polyethylene 2,5-furandicarboxylate (PEF), a
biobased polyester. Aerobic oxidative esterification with methanol and ethylene glycol in the
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presence of a CeO2-supported Au catalyst gave 80-95% yields of methyl furan-2,5-dicarboxylate
and bis(2-hydroxyethyl) furan-2,5-dicarboxylate from concentrated HMF-acetal solutions (10-20
wt%). Kinetic studies combined with density functional theory (DFT) calculations are used to
identify two key steps for the conversion of the cyclic acetal ring to the corresponding methyl
ester: (i) partial hydrolysis of the acetal ring by OH- ions and (ii) subsequent oxidation of the
hemiacetal in solution by molecular O2 on Au nanoparticles. These results not only represent a
significant contribution to cutting-edge conversion technology for renewable biomass feedstocks
to PEF-based applications, but also to opportunities for the efficient conversion of substrates
with a reactive formyl group in high yield.
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KEYWORDS: biomass conversion, biobased polymer, oxidative esterification, acetal
functionality, supported Au catalyst
1. INTRODUCTION
Renewable feedstocks are essential for the transformation of the chemical industry to the
sustainable production of commodity chemicals.1-4 Chemo-catalytic conversion of non-edible
biomass to value-added chemicals will be a main contributor to comply with sustainable
development goals. FDCA synthesized from lignocellulose biomass is widely recognized as a
suitable replacement for petroleum-derived terephthalic acid in plastics applications.5,6
Polymerization of the dimethyl ester of FDCA with ethylene glycol forms PEF, which possesses
physical, mechanical, and thermal properties superior to polyethylene terephthalate (PET).7 PEF
is a promising 100% renewables-based polymer derived from plants that can replace the giant of
the plastic industry, PET (global annual production >50 MT).5,8-14 PEF has better barrier
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properties and higher tensile strength than PET; therefore, less additives are required, which
makes this next-generation polyester also a better recyclable product. Despite its great potential,
efficient PEF production systems that use heterogeneous catalysts are limited to dilute solutions
(≤ 5 wt%),15-18 which results in low productivity and high energy costs during work-up.
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Figure 1. Schematic illustration of the present and proposed pathways for the production of PEF
from cellulosic biomass. High-quality PEF can be synthesized by self-condensation of bis(2-
hydroxyethyl) furan-2,5-dicarboxylate (HEFDC). The conventional process involves three steps
to synthesize HEFDC from HMF: aerobic oxidation of HMF (Step 1), esterification of FDCA
with methanol (Step 2), and transesterification of methyl furan-2,5-dicarboxylate (MFDC) with
ethylene glycol (Step 3). The proposed process here enables the synthesis of MFDC (Step 4) and
HEFDC (Step 5) in a one-pot reaction system by aerobic oxidative esterification from PD-HMF
with methanol and ethylene glycol, respectively.
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The production of PEF is based on the polycondensation of two biobased monomers, methyl
furan-2,5-dicarboxylate (MFDC) and ethylene glycol (Figure 1). However, to achieve
commercially interesting chain lengths, the condensation by-products must be removed. A
typical strategy is to first react MFDC with ethylene glycol to bis(2-hydroxyethyl) furan-2,5-
dicarboxylate (HEFDC), followed by self-condensation to a high-molecular weight product.12,13
Direct polymerization of FDCA with ethylene glycol is less preferred because the use of FDCA
causes undesirable side-reactions, including decarboxylation, and produces low-quality PEF with
impurities.5,12 Cost-competitive and practical PEF production thus relies heavily on the efficient
production of MFDC and HEFDC from concentrated HMF solutions. An attractive alternative to
the conventional oxidation-esterification route of MFDC with FDCA as an intermediate is the
oxidative esterification of HMF in methanol, which would lower the energy cost due to the
smaller number of reaction steps and the ease of product purification (Figure 1). While easily
separable and reusable heterogeneous catalysts have already been successfully applied for this
reaction, a major limitation is that high MFDC yield (95-99%) can only be obtained in dilute
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HMF solutions (0.2-5 wt%, see Table S1).19-23 At higher concentrations, aerobic oxidation of
HMF leads to solid by-products, which drastically limit the product yield.24-26 Likewise, it would
be desirable to prepare HEFDC in a one-pot synthesis from HMF and ethylene glycol through
oxidative esterification. Self-polymerization of HEFDC produces high-quality PEF polymer in a
single step (Figure 1).12 An additional benefit of such a solvent-less process is that ethylene
glycol can be easily recovered and reused for HEFDC production. However, there are no
examples in the literature of HEFDC synthesis from HMF using either homogeneous or
heterogeneous catalysts.
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To perform these desirable oxidative esterification reactions at commercially relevant HMF
concentrations, we exploit the stability of the HMF-acetal with 1,3-propanediol (PD-HMF).24
This acetal, which is stable in concentrated aqueous solution (10-20 wt%), can be converted with
appropriate catalysts into useful products such as FDCA. The stable six-membered ring acetal
obtained by reaction with the diol protects the highly reactive formyl group from side-reactions
that occur at higher rates with an increase in the HMF concentration. Here we show that aerobic
oxidative esterification of PD-HMF with methanol and ethylene glycol in the presence of
suitable heterogeneous catalysts can result in successful conversion to MFDC and HEFDC,
respectively, in excellent yield.
2. EXPERIMENTAL SECTION
2.1. Preparation and characterization of a ceria-supported Au catalyst
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A ceria-supported Au catalyst was synthesized by the deposition precipitation method.27
HAuCl4 (350 mg) was dissolved with deionized water (350 mL) and the pH of the solution was
adjusted to 10 by addition of 0.2 M NaOH solution. The solution was mixed with a mixture of
H2O (50 mL) and CeO2 (4 g, JRC-CEO-2, a reference catalyst supplied from the Catalyst Society
of Japan), and the pH of the mixture was again adjusted to pH 10 with NaOH. After stirring the
mixture for 18 h at room temperature, a yellow solid was collected by centrifugation and
repeatedly washed with deionized water until no white precipitate was formed in the filtrate by
the addition of aqueous AgNO3 solution. The solid was dried at 353 K for 3 h and then used as
an oxidation catalyst for HMF and its acetal derivatives. The Au content of Au/CeO2 was
determined by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICPE-9000,
Shimadzu) to be 2.0 wt%. The Au/CeO2 catalyst with a Au loading of 2.0 wt% was used as the
sole oxidation catalyst in this study, because a similar material was reported to be highly active
and selective for HMF oxidation to FDCA as well as oxidative esterification of HMF to
MFDC.9,19,24 Parent CeO2 and the supported Au catalyst were characterized using powder X-ray
diffraction (XRD), N2 adsorption-desorption, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM)
measurements. Powder XRD patterns were obtained with a diffractometer (Ultima IV, Rigaku)
using Cu Kα radiation (40 kV, 40 mA) over the 2θ range of 5−90°. Nitrogen
adsorption−desorption isotherms were measured at 77 K with a surface area analyzer (3-FLEX,
Micromeritics Instrument Corporation). Prior to measurement, the samples were heated at 473 K
for 1 h under vacuum to remove physisorbed water. The Brunauer−Emmett−Teller (BET)
surface areas were estimated over a relative pressure (P/P0) range of 0.05−0.30. TEM
observations were conducted using a microscope (JEM-2100F Jeol Ltd.) without metal
deposition on the sample.
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Catalytic oxidation
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Aerobic oxidative esterification of HMF and its acetal derivatives (MeO-HMF, EG-HMF,
PD-HMF) to MFDC was performed with methanol in a Teflon-lined stainless-steel autoclave. A
mixture of the substrate (10-200 mg), Au/CeO2 (10-200 mg, substrate/catalyst = 1), Na2CO3 (2.0
molar equivalents with respect to the substrate), and methanol (0.5-10 g) was stirred in an O2
atmosphere (pressure 0.5 MPa) at 403 K. These conditions were reported as optimized reaction
conditions for aerobic oxidation of PD-HMF in water.24 Aerobic oxidative esterification of HMF
and PD-HMF to HEFDC was also conducted in pure ethylene glycol or in N,N’-
dimethylformamide (DMF) with ethylene glycol (2.5 molar equivalents with respect to the
substrate). For HEFDC formation in ethylene glycol, a mixture of the substrate (HMF or PD-
HMF, 100 mg), Au/CeO2 (100 mg, substrate/catalyst = 1), Na2CO3 (2.0 molar equivalents with
respect to the substrate), and ethylene glycol (1 or 2 g) was stirred in an O2 atmosphere (pressure
1.0 MPa) at 383 K for 24 h. For HEFDC formation in DMF, a mixture of the substrate (HMF or
PD-HMF, 100 mg), Au/CeO2 (100 mg, substrate/catalyst = 1), Na2CO3 (2.0 molar equivalents
with respect to the substrate), ethylene glycol (2.5 molar equivalents with respect to the
substrate), and DMF as the solvent (0.5-1.0 g) was heated at 383 K for 24 h in an O2 atmosphere
(pressure 1.0 MPa). All reaction mixtures were diluted with ethyl acetate (5 mL) after
completion of the reaction to dissolve all products and then analyzed using gas chromatography
(Shimadzu, GC-2025) with a flame ionization detector (FID) and InterCap 17 column (GL
Sciences Inc.). Chlorobenzene was used as an internal standard.
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Stepwise
synthesis
of
2-(1,1’-dimethoxymethyl)-5-(1,3-dioxan-2-yl)-furan
from
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diformylfuran
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Indium triflate (11 mg, 0.5 mol% with respect to the substrate) was added to a mixture of 2,5-
diformylfuran (500 mg, 4.5 mmol), alcohol (12.5 mmol), trimethyl orthoformate (1.5 g, 14
mmol), and dichloromethane (45 mL). The mixture was stirred at room temperature overnight
and then filtered through a short plug of alumina. After purification of the crude product by
column chromatography, 2,5-bis(1,1’-dimethoxymethyl)-furan was obtained in 82% yield. A
mixture of 2,5-bis(1,1’-dimethoxymethyl)-furan (200 mg, 0.92 mmol), 1,3-propanediol (1.0
molar equivalent with respect to the substrate), In(OTf)3 (0.5 mol% with respect to the substrate),
and dichloromethane (2 mL) was stirred at room temperature for 1 h to promote
transacetalization of the dimethyl acetal moiety with 1,3-propanediol. After flash column
chromatography with alumina and 10% ethyl acetate in hexane, 2-(1,1’-dimethoxymethyl)-5-
(1,3-dioxan-2-yl) -furan was obtained with 21% yield.
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1
2,5-bis(1,1’-dimethoxymethyl)-furan: H NMR (400 MHz, CDCl3) 6.40 (s,
OMe
13
OMe
OMe
O
MeO
2H), 5.43 (s, 2H), 3.35 (s, 6H); C NMR (100 MHz, CDCl3) 154.2, 110.5,
109.2, 52.9.
1
5-(1,1’-dimethoxymethyl)-2-(1,3-dioxan-2-yl)-furan: H NMR (400 MHz,
OMe
O
O
O
MeO
CDCl3) 6.41 (d, 2H), 5.39 (d, 2H), 3.81 (s, 4H), 3.36 (s, 6H), 1.98 (m, 2H);
13C NMR (100 MHz, CDCl3) 150.7, 108.9, 97.9, 62.2, 52.8, 33.9.
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Synthesis of methyl 2-(1,3-dioxan-2-yl)-furan-5-carboxylate (MFFC-acetal) from methyl 5-
formyl-furan-2-carboxylate (MFFC) with 1,3-propanediol
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Amberlyst-15 (50 mg, H+ content: 4.6-4.8 mmol g-1) was added to a mixture of methyl 5-formyl-
furan-2-carboxylate (180 mg, 0.71 mmol), 1,3-propanediol (110 μL, 1.53 mmol), and
dichloromethane (3 mL). After stirring the mixture at 398 K for 12 h, the solid catalyst and
solvent were removed by suction filtration and vacuum evaporation, respectively, and the final
product was used as MFFC-acetal without further purification.
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1
O
5-(1,3-dioxan-2-yl)-2-furancarboxylic acid (MFFC-acetal): H NMR (400
O
O
O
MeO
MHz, CDCl3) 7.16 (d, 1H), 6.56 (d, 1H), 5.61 (s, 1H), 4.24 (m, 2H), 3.957
13
(m, 2H), 3.88 (s, 3H), 2.23 (m, 1H), 1.45 (dd, 1H); C NMR (100 MHz, CDCl3) 158.8, 154.8,
143.9, 118.3, 108.9, 95.4, 67.0, 51.8, 25.3.
Esterification of FDCA with ethylene glycol to synthesize HEFDC
FDCA (500 mg, 3.20 mmol) was placed into a 50 mL round bottomed two-neck glass flask
equipped with a reflux condenser. After the addition of benzene (20 mL) and ethylene glycol
(0.5 mL, mmol), 1-2 drops of sulfuric acid were added. The reaction mixture was heated at 383
K for 24 h. The final reaction mixture was neutralized with a saturated aqueous solution of
NaHCO3, and the product was extracted with ethyl acetate (10 mL) three times. After
dehydration with anhydrous magnesium sulfate and evaporation of the ethyl acetate, HEFDC
was obtained with 54% yield.
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Bis(2-hydroxyethyl) furan-2,5-dicarboxylate (HEFDC): H NMR
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7
O
O
13
(400 MHz, CDCl3) 7.4 (s, 2H), 4.4 (t, 4H), 3.7 (t, 4H); C NMR
O
O
O
HO
OH
(100 MHz, CDCl3), 158.7, 144.7, 119.4, 67.5, 60.1.
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DFT calculations
All DFT calculations were performed adopting the generalized gradient approximation
Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (GGA-PBE) exchange-correlation functional,28 as implemented in the
Vienna ab initio simulation package (VASP).29 The valence electrons Ce(5s, 5p, 6s, 4f, 5d), O(2s,
2p), Au(5d, 6s) and C(2s, 2p) electrons were expanded in a plane-wave basis set with a cut-off
energy of 400 eV. The projected augmented wave method (PAW) was employed to describe the
ion-electron interactions.30 The DFT+U approach was used, in which U is a Hubbard-like term
describing the on-site coulombic interactions.31 This approach improves the description of
localized states in ceria, where standard local-density approximation (LDA) and GGA
functionals fail. For Ce, a value of U = 4.5 eV was adopted, which was calculated self-
consistently by Fabris et al.32 using the linear response approach of Cococcioni and de
Gironcoli,33 and which is within the 3.0-6.0 eV range that provides localization of the electrons
left upon the removal of oxygen from ceria.34 The bulk equilibrium lattice constant (5.49 Å)
calculated previously using PBE+U (U = 4.5 eV) was used for ceria.35 The ceria surface model
was a periodic ceria slab with a (4×4) surface unit cell of CeO2(111), which is the most
thermodynamically stable termination of ceria.36 The CeO2(111) slab model is three Ce-O-Ce
layers thick (nine atomic layers) and the vacuum gap was set to 15 Å. For the Brillouin zone
integration, a 1×1×1 Monkhorst-Pack mesh was used. The Au4/CeO2(111) structure was adopted
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to model metallic Au clusters supported on a CeO2 support. The atoms in the bottom layer were
frozen in their bulk position and only the top two Ce-O-Ce layers and the supported Au4 cluster
were allowed to relax. The climbing image nudged-elastic band (CI-NEB) algorithm37,38 was
used to identify the transition states in the de-protection of MFFC-acetal species. To simulate the
OH- anions in the reaction system, an electron was added for each OH- anion in the simulated
system. The formed charge was compensated with a uniform background of charge with the
opposite sign, and the system was then allowed to relax. This treatment of the charged system is
generally adopted in the exploration of reaction mechanisms.39,40
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3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Aerobic oxidative esterification of HMF and its acetals for the production of MFDC and
HEFDC
Table 1. Formation of MFDC in methanol (A) and HEFDC with ethylene glycol (B) from HMF
and its acetal compounds (MeO-HMF, EG-HMF, and PD-HMF) with a CeO2-supported Au
catalyst under pressurized oxygen.
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Entry Product
Substrate
Concentration Solvent
/ wt%
Conversion Yield Mass
(%)
balance
(%)
91
(%)
94
12
95
9
1a
2a
3a
4a
1
>99.9
>99.9
>99.9
>99.9
>99.9
>99.9
>99.9
>99.9
>99.9
>99.9
>99.9
>99.9
>99.9
>99.9
>99.9
>99.9
>99.9
HMF
MeOH
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4
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DMF+
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a
Reagents and conditions: Substrate (HMF, MeO-HMF, EG-HMF, and PD-HMF), 100 mg; 2
wt% Au/CeO2 catalyst, 100 mg; Na2CO3, 2.0 molar equivalents with respect to the substrate;
MeOH solvent, 10 g (1 wt% solution), 1.0 g (10 wt% solution), 0.60 g (16.7 wt%), 0.50 g (20
wt%); temperature, 403 K; stirring rate, 500 rpm; oxygen pressure, 0.5 MPa; reaction time, 15 h.
bOxygen pressure of entry 10, 1.0 MPa instead of 0.5 MPa. cSubstrate (HMF and PD-HMF), 100
mg; ethylene glycol, 2.0 g (5 wt% solution) or 1.0 g (10 wt% solution); Au/CeO2 catalyst, 100
mg; temperature, 383 K; stirring rate, 500 rpm; oxygen pressure, 1.0 MPa; reaction time, 24 h.
dSubstrate (HMF and PD-HMF), 100 mg; Au/CeO2 catalyst, 100 mg; DMF, 1.0 g (10 wt%
solution), 0.60 g (16.7 wt% solution), and 0.50 g (20 wt% solution); ethylene glycol, 0.14 g to
HMF and 0.20 g to PD-HMF (2.5 molar equivalents with respect to the substrate); temperature,
e
383 K; stirring rate, 500 rpm; oxygen pressure, 1.0 MPa; reaction time, 24 h. The amounts of
1,3-propanediol and ethylene glycol were estimated to be 0.43 and 1.17 mmol, respectively, after
completion of the reaction. Considering the initial PD-HMF content (0.54 mmol) and theoretical
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value of ethylene glycol consumed in this reaction (0.98 mmol), 80% of 1,3-propanediol and
68% of ethylene glycol can be recovered without degradation and used for the subsequent
reaction.
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Ceria-supported gold nanoparticles (Au/CeO2) are excellent catalysts for the aerobic
oxidation of a wide range of functional organic groups and have already found utility in the
oxidation of HMF and PD-HMF to FDCA in water, as well as MFDC formation from HMF in
methanol.15-17,19-24 The supported gold catalyst was prepared by a homogeneous deposition-
precipitation approach (Figure S1). The many black dots in the TEM image (Figure S1(A)) are
Au nanoparticles with an average size of 4.17±0.87 nm (Figure S1(B)) that are highly dispersed
on CeO2 particles. The crystalline structure of the CeO2 support can be characterized by XRD
patterns (Figure S1(C)), in which all diffraction peaks can be assigned to cubic CeO2 phase. No
additional diffractions other than cubic CeO2 were observed for Au/CeO2 in Figure S1(C),
because the Au nanoparticles cannot be detected by XRD measurement due to their small size.
PD-HMF can be obtained by acetalization of HMF with 1,3-propanediol promoted by In(OTf)3.24
Table 1 lists the reaction conditions, conversion of substrates, and product yields (MFDC and
HEFDC) for the two target reactions. The oxidation of other HMF-acetals with methanol (MeO-
HMF) and ethylene glycol (EG-HMF) as reference substrates was also investigated. All reactions
were conducted with methanol or ethylene glycol in the presence of Na2CO3 (2.0 molar
equivalents with respect to the substrate), the Au/CeO2 catalyst and application of an oxygen
atmosphere (0.5 or 1.0 MPa). When conducted in dilute methanol solution (1 wt%), all substrates
can be converted to MFDC with a yield higher than 90% at complete substrate conversion
(entries 1, 3, 5, and 7). These results imply that the Au/CeO2 catalyst can effectively promote
oxidative esterification of these substrates with molecular oxygen under the applied reaction
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conditions. However, the MFDC yield is strongly dependent on the type of substrate in
concentrated solutions (10 wt%). Oxidative esterification of HMF and MeO-HMF afforded only
MFDC yields below 5% (entries 2 and 4). The low MFDC yield and mass balance in entry 2 can
be attributed to rapid by-product formation during the first 3 h of the reaction, which reaches a
yield of 69% (see Figure 3(A) for detail information): A similar poor result obtained in entry 4
indicates that the protection of HMF with dimethyl acetal is also insufficient to prevent by-
product formation. Although the yield obtained from EG-HMF (MFDC yield of 76%, entry 6) is
substantially higher, reactions with PD-HMF offered excellent MFDC yields and mass balances
in excess of 90% for 10 wt% and 16.7 wt% substrate solutions (entries 8 and 9). These high
yields in concentrated solutions can be linked to the high stability of the six-membered ring
acetal in the PD-HMF substrate.24 To confirm this, control experiments were conducted in an Ar
atmosphere with MeO-HMF, EG-HMF and PD-HMF to evaluate how fast these compounds
degrade under otherwise similar conditions to entries 4, 6 and 8 (Figure 2). Approximately 30%
of EG-HMF was lost at 2 h by thermal degradation (B) and this phenomenon was more
pronounced for MeO-HMF (ca. 50% at 2 h, (A)). However, most PD-HMF remained unchanged
in the reaction mixture after 2 h (C). Despite the high stability of PD-HMF in (C), continuous
degradation occurred in the absence of Na2CO3, which led to a decrease of approximately 30%
PD-HMF over 2 h (D). Therefore, Na2CO3 (2 molar equivalents with respect to PD-HMF) plays
an important role to stabilize PD-HMF in concentrated methanol solution (10 wt%) under the
reaction conditions. A similar stabilizing effect of acetalization was already reported in a
previous work: the presence of a large amount of base (Na2CO3) protects the six-membered ring
acetal of PD-HMF from ring-opening reaction in water, even at high temperature.24 In water, the
high pH prevents the nucleophilic attack of water on the acetal group, which would lead to
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deprotection to produce HMF. We speculate that the large amount of Na2CO3 in methanol also
effectively suppresses the nucleophilic attack of residual water contaminated and methanol to the
acetal group in PD-HMF (Figures 2C and 2D). Water and methanol would lead to, respectively,
unstable HMF and MeO-HMF intermediates. The amount of Na2CO3 to afford a high PD-HMF
yield for a 10 wt% PD-HMF solution was optimized. The MFDC yield was found to be optimum
for 2 molar equivalents of Na2CO3 with respect to PD-HMF. A lower amount of Na2CO3 resulted
in a decreased MFDC yield (Figure S2).
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Figure 2. Stability tests for three HMF-acetal compounds (PD-HMF, EG-HMF, and MeO-HMF)
in 10 wt% solutions. Reagents and conditions: substrate (MeO-HMF, EG-HMF, and PD-HMF),
100 mg; 2 wt% Au/CeO2 catalyst, 100 mg; Na2CO3, no or 2 molar equivalents with respect to the
substrate; methanol, 1.0 g (A-D), 0.5 g (E); temperature, 403 K; stirring rate, 500 rpm; Ar
pressure, 0.5 MPa.
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The effect of a further increase in the PD-HMF concentration to 20 wt% was also evaluated,
which caused by-product formation and led to an unsatisfactory MFDC yield, even after
optimization of inorganic and organic bases in a 0.5 MPa O2 atmosphere (Table S2). After an
increase of the O2 pressure to 1 MPa, a moderate yield (82%) was obtained at complete
conversion (entry 10 of Table 1). We attribute this limitation to the low solubility of molecular
oxygen and Na2CO3 in methanol compared to PD-HMF, which is underpinned by the
observation that 27% of PD-HMF was thermally decomposed in a 20 wt% PD-HMF solution in
Ar (Figure 2(E)). Therefore, under the optimized reaction conditions the maximum PD-HMF
concentration is approximately 16 wt% to allow for selective MFDC production from PD-HMF
using Au/CeO2 as the catalyst in the presence of sufficient Na2CO3 base (two molar equivalents
with respect to the substrate) via aerobic oxidative esterification. The solid catalyst can be
isolated simply by decantation or filtration and could be reused in subsequent reactions at least
three times without significant loss of activity (Figure S3). In addition, the majority of 1,3-
propanediol and Na2CO3 could be recovered after the reaction (entry 8), which is another
beneficial aspect from a practical perspective.
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This reaction system was extended to the one-pot synthesis of HEFDC in ethylene glycol
with the same Au/CeO2 catalyst at 383 K for 24 h at an O2 pressure of 1.0 MPa. When the
reactions were conducted in 5 wt% solutions of pure ethylene glycol, PD-HMF was clearly
superior to HMF in terms of product yield at full conversion, as indicated by a comparison of
entries 11 and 12. A further increase in the PD-HMF concentration to 10 wt% resulted in a
decrease in HEFDC yield to 45% (entry 13). However, when the oxidative esterification of PD-
HMF was performed with 2.5 equivalents of ethylene glycol in N,N’-dimethylformamide (DMF),
the HEFDC yields were significantly improved to 80-94%, even in concentrated solutions (10-20
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wt%) as shown in entries 15-17. Entry 14 shows that HMF cannot be converted effectively to
HEFDC in this reaction system. These results suggest that an excess of ethylene glycol promotes
by-product formation with PD-HMF.
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Kinetic studies for MFDC formation from HMF and PD-HMF
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Figure 3. (A) Time course for aerobic oxidative esterification of HMF in methanol with
Au/CeO2 catalyst. HMF conversion, black line and symbols; yield of intermediate 1 (methyl 5-
hydroxymethyl-furan-2-carboxylate), orange line and symbols; yield of intermediate 2 (methyl
5-formyl-furan-2-carboxylate), green line and symbols; yield of MFDC, pink line and symbols;
yield of by-products, gray line and symbols. (B) Time course for aerobic oxidative esterification
of PD-HMF in methanol with Au/CeO2 catalyst. PD-HMF conversion, black line and symbols;
yield of intermediate 3 (2-(1,3-dioxan-2-yl)-5-formyl-furan), red line and symbols; yield of
intermediate 4 (2-(1,1’-dimethoxymethyl)-5-(1,3-dioxan-2-yl)-furan), blue line and symbols;
yield of intermediate 5 (methyl (2-(1,3-dioxan-2-yl)furan-5-carboxylate), teal line and symbols;
yield of MFDC, pink line and symbols. Time course lines were estimated using a pseudo-first-
order reaction model.
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Reagents and conditions: HMF or PD-HMF, 100 mg; catalyst, 100 mg (Au/HMF = 1.3 mol%,
Au/PD-HMF = 2.0 mol%); Na2CO3, 2 molar equivalents with respect to HMF and PD-HMF;
methanol, 1.0 g; temperature, 403 K; stirring rate, 500 rpm; O2 pressure, 0.5 MPa.
The efficient production of MFDC and HEFDC in concentrated solutions can only be achieved
from PD-HMF, as highlighted in Table 1. To reveal the difference between HMF and PD-HMF,
the reaction mechanism for MFDC formation in methanol from 10 wt% HMF and PD-HMF
solutions was investigated by a kinetic study supported by density functional theory (DFT)
calculations. Figure 3(A) shows time courses for HMF conversion and product yields during 15
h of reaction. All intermediates were quantitatively analyzed using gas chromatography. The
formyl group in HMF was firstly converted into methyl carboxylate through oxidative
esterification, which formed intermediate 1 (methyl 5-hydroxymethyl-furan-2-carboxylate). The
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desired product, MFDC, was subsequently obtained in two steps. The first step involves
oxidation of the hydroxymethyl group in intermediate 1 to form intermediate 2 (methyl 5-
formyl-furan-5-carboxylate). This pathway is consistent with that reported in the literature with
supported Au catalysts.9,10 However, the reaction also involves an undesirable pathway for the
formation of heavy by-products, so-called humins. The kinetic traces were fitted using pseudo-
first-order reaction kinetics. (see SI for the detailed information) The rate constant for by-product
formation from HMF (k2 = 0.7 h-1) is much larger than that for intermediate 1 (k1 = 0.3 h-1).
While by-products can also be formed from intermediate 2 because of its formyl group, the
reaction rate constant for this pathway is negligibly small (k4 = 0.1 h-1) compared to that for the
desirable oxidative esterification to MFDC (k5 = 0.6 h-1), which means that intermediate 2 will be
rapidly converted into MFDC.
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Figure 3(B) shows time courses for PD-HMF conversion and product yields during 15 h of
reaction. Contrary to the reaction with HMF, oxidation starts at the hydroxymethyl moiety of
PD-HMF due to the protection of the reactive formyl group with the stable six-membered ring
acetal, as shown in Figure 2. The hydroxymethyl group is converted to methyl ester in three
elementary reaction steps involving oxidation of the hydroxymethyl group in PD-HMF, which
results in a formyl moiety (intermediate 3), dimethyl acetal formation by reaction of the formyl
group of intermediate 3 with methanol (intermediate 4), and oxidative esterification of the
dimethyl acetal moiety in intermediate 4, which results in the methyl ester (intermediate 5).
MFDC is formed directly by oxidation of the ring acetal in intermediate 5, which results in 92%
MFDC yield after 15 h. On the basis of these observations, the reaction pathway for the
oxidation of PD-HMF to MFDC can be outlined in Figure 3(B) and the kinetic traces can also be
fit using a pseudo-first-order model. (see SI for the detailed information) While the pseudo-first-
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order rate constant for oxidative esterification of the dimethyl acetal intermediate 4 (k8= 0.50 h-1)
is much smaller than the rate constants for the two earlier reaction steps (oxidation of
hydroxymethyl group with k6 = 1.3 h-1 and subsequent dimethyl acetal formation with k7= 2.2 h-
1), the rate-determining step in the overall reaction is oxidation of the cyclic ring acetal in
intermediate 5 with k9 = 0.22 h-1.
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Figure 4. Oxidative esterification of MFFC-acetal with various water contents in methanol.
Reagents and conditions: MFFC-acetal, 10 mg; 2 wt% Au/CeO2 catalysts, 10 mg (Au/MFFC-
acetal = 2.3 mol%); methanol, 1.0 g; water, 0 g (< 10 ppm), 0.10 µg (1.3 × 10-6 molar
equivalents with respect to MFFC-acetal), 0.20 µg (2.6×10-6 molar equivalents with respect to
MFFC-acetal), 1.0 µg (1.3×10-5 molar equivalents with respect to MFFC-acetal), 10 µg (1.3×10-4
molar equivalents with respect to MFFC-acetal); Na2CO3, 2 molar equivalents with respect to
MFFC-acetal; temperature, 403 K; O2 pressure, 0.5 MPa; stirring rate, 500 rpm; reaction time, 4
h.
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Further kinetic studies were performed with intermediate 5, methyl 5-formyl-furan-2-
carboxylate (MFFC) with 1,3-propanediol (MFFC-acetal) as a substrate using a dilute (1 wt%)
solution. The conversion of the hydroxymethyl group in PD-HMF to the methyl ester results in
the formation of two water molecules, which can promote the final oxidative esterification step.
Therefore, oxidative esterification of MFFC-acetal was conducted in dehydrated methanol with
various water contents to verify the role of water in the oxidation of the cyclic acetal functional
group to methyl carboxylate (Figure 4). When the reactions were performed in small amounts of
water less than 0.2 µg (2.6×10-6 molar equivalents with respect to the substrate), the resulting
MFDC yields were negligibly small. In contrast, the addition of 1.0 µg water to the reaction
mixture resulted in a significant increase of the MFDC yield to 75%. This promotion effect with
a small amount of water toward the substrate (1.3×10-5 molar equivalents with respect to the
substrate) strongly implies that a catalytic amount of water accelerates direct oxidative
esterification of the cyclic ring acetal to methyl carboxylate. Free MFFC itself was not detected
during the reaction, which suggests that a cascade reaction consisting of the deprotection of
MFFC-acetal and subsequent oxidation of the formyl group can be excluded from the reaction
mechanism of MFFC-acetal oxidation, even in the presence of water. Therefore, a small amount
of water added to the reaction mixture significantly accelerates direct oxidative esterification of
the cyclic ring acetal to the methyl ester. These experimental results are important to elucidate
the reaction path by theoretical calculations.
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DFT calculations to clarify presumable reaction path of rate-determining step
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Figure 5. Computed reaction energy diagram for the rate-determining step during the oxidative
esterification of MFFC-acetal over the Au/CeO2 catalyst.
The role of water in the direct oxidation of the cyclic ring acetal in MFFC-acetal was
investigated using DFT calculations. Figure 5 shows the computed reaction energy diagram for
the conversion of MFFC-acetal into MFDC on a surface model that consists of a small Au cluster
placed on the most stable (111) surface termination of CeO2 (Figures S4 and S5). MFFC-acetal
can be stabilized through coordination of the cyclic acetal oxygen atom to a Lewis acid site on
the CeO2 surface. Nucleophilic attack by an OH ion formed by reaction of residual water and
Na2CO3 in methanol leads to partial hydrolysis of the ring acetal and formation of the
corresponding hemiacetal, IM2, with an activation barrier of 71.4 kJ mol-1. The alternative path
that leads to formation of another acetal intermediate (IM5) with methanol by partial
transacetalization of the cyclic ring acetal is less relevant due to the lower stability of IM5 (-92.6
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kJ mol-1, see Figures S6 and S7) than IM2 (-140.1 kJ mol-1). Oxidative dehydrogenation of IM2
facilitated by molecularly adsorbed O2 on the gold cluster yields the corresponding ester with
1,3-propanediol (IM3). This step is strongly exothermic (ΔE = -175.9 kJ mol-1) and the required
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activation energy barrier is 67.7 kJ mol-1. Complete hydrolysis of the hemiacetal form (IM2 →
IM4), which results in the formation of free MFFC, is unfavorable due to the much higher
activation energy barrier (Ea = 111.9 kJ mol-1). It was also established that the conversion of
hemiacetal IM2 to hemiacetal IM6 with methanol cannot proceed due to a very high activation
energy barrier of 223 kJ mol-1 (Figures S6 and S7). Desorption of IM3 from the surface and
subsequent transesterification with methanol in the reaction mixture results in MFDC. The main
findings of these DFT calculations are well supported by the experimental results. The computed
activation barrier of 71.4 kJ mol-1 for the first step that produces the hemiacetal is in accordance
with the experimental apparent activation energy (68 kJ mol-1, see Table S3). The results indicate
that the OH- anion plays a pivotal role in the highly effective formation of MFDC over the
methanol group.
4. CONCLUSIONS
We have demonstrated that selective production of MFDC and HEFDC can be achieved from
concentrated PD-HMF solutions by aerobic oxidative esterification in the presence of a Au/CeO2
catalyst. The protection of the reactive formyl group of HMF by acetalization with 1,3-
propanediol suppresses side-reactions that limit the product yield. Partial hydrolysis with in situ-
formed water leads to the hemiacetal form of the cyclic acetal, which initiates conversion of the
stable cyclic acetal to the desired esters with methanol or ethylene glycol. These results confirm
PD-HMF as a promising candidate for the cost-effective and large-scale production of MFDC
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and HEFDC precursors to PEF. The concept of the protection of reactive formyl groups, a
common motive in biobased intermediates, also open new strategies for other downstream
applications of the biobased HMF platform for the production of fine and commodity chemicals.
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ASSOCIATED CONTENT
Supporting Information. Experimental procedures, Characterization results of fresh Au/CeO2,
reuse experiments of Au/CeO2, DFT calculations for mechanistic studies, Literature survey for
oxidative esterification of HMF using heterogeneous catalysts, effect of base additives on the
catalytic activity of Au/CeO2, Apparent activation energies for the formation of MFDC from
HMF and PD-HMF (PDF file). This material is available free of charge via the Internet at
http://pubs.acs.org.
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
*email: nakajima@cat.hokudai.ac.jp (Kiyotaka Nakajima)
*email: e.j.m.hensen@tue.nl (Emiel J.M. Hensen)
Author Contributions
M.K. and K.N. designed the study. M.K. performed all experiments including catalyst
preparation and characterization, synthesis of all organic compounds written in Methods, and
catalytic reactions. Y.S. and E.J.M.H. conducted the DFT calculations. M.K., Y.S., T.A., A.F.,
E.J.M.H. and K.N. wrote the paper.
Funding Sources
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The authors declare no competing financial interest.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
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This work was supported by Advanced Low Carbon Technology Research and Development
Program (ALCA, No. JPMJAL1507), Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), and also in
part by a Kakenhi Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (A) (No. 15H05556) from the Japan
Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).
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ABBREVIATIONS
FDCA, furan-2,5-dicarboxylic acid; HMF, (5-hydroxymethyl)furfural; PEF, polyethylene 2,5-
furandicarboxylate; DFT calculation, density functional theory calculation; PET, polyethylene
terephthalate; MFDC, methyl furan-2,5-dicarboxylate; HEFDC, bis(2-hydroxyethyl) furan-2,5-
dicarboxylate; PD-HMF, HMF-acetal with 1,3-propanediol; XRD, x-ray diffraction; TEM,
transmission electron microscopy; BET surface area, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area;
DMF, N,N’-dimethylformamide; MFFC-acetal, methyl 2-(1,3-dioxan-2-yl)-furan-5-carboxylate;
MFFC, methyl 5-formyl-furan-2-carboxylate; GGA-PBE, generalized gradient approximation
Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (GGA-PBE); VASP, Vienna ab initio simulation package; PAW
method, projected augmented wave method; LDA, local-density approximation; CI-NEB
algorithm, climbing image nudged-elastic band algorithm; MeO-HMF, HMF-acetal with
methanol; EG-HMF, HMF-acetal with ethylene glycol.
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