One-pot production of 2,5-dimethylfuran from fructose over Ru/C and a Lewis-Broensted acid mixture in N,N-dimethylformamide

An efficient catalysis system composed of a Lewis-Broensted acid mixture and Ru/C using N,N-dimethylformamide as a solvent was developed for the one-pot conversion of fructose to 2,5-dimethylfuran (2,5-DMF) via the dehydration/hydrogenolysis sequence. The effects of various reaction parameters, such as solvent, catalyst type, catalyst loading, reaction pressure, temperature and time, on single fructose dehydration, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) hydrogenolysis and the one-pot conversion of fructose to 2,5-DMF were systematically investigated. The results showed that 2,5-DMF could be successfully produced with a yield as high as 66.3 mol% by using a one-pot method directly from fructose under the optimized reaction conditions, which is by far the highest yield ever reported for the production of 2,5-DMF from fructose through a one-pot strategy. The Ru/C catalyst could be reused at least three times with a slight decrease in 2,5-DMF yield.