Sulfated zirconia catalysts supported on mesoporous Mg-SBA-15 with different morphologies for highly efficient conversion of fructose to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural

In this work, the novel acid-base bi-functional mesoporous SBA-15 catalysts with four kinds of morphologies were synthesized by Mg incorporated and sulfated zirconia (SZ) grafted. The introduction of Mg to mesoporous SBA-15 materials significantly improves the strength of the base. And the supported SZ group exhibit effective Bronsted/Lewis acid strength. The physical and chemical properties of the prepared materials were systematically analyzed by the characterization tests of SEM, TEM, XRD, N-2 adsorption-desorption of, FT-IR, TGA, XPS, NH3/CO2-TPD and in-suit PY-IR. The obtained catalysts of SZ@Mg-SBA-15 could be applied to the fructose conversion into 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) with the co-solvent system of iPrOH/DMSO (v/v = 9:1). 5HMF was achieved under the optimal reaction condition with the highest yield of 98.6%. The result shows that the reaction of fructose dehydration into 5-HMF could be caused by the combination of Bronsted acid site and basic site. This work developed reaction system could avoid the large use of environmentally dangerous solvents, and provides a new economical and feasible method for the large-scale conversion of fructose biomass.