Dehydration of xylose and glucose to furan derivatives using bifunctional partially hydroxylated MgF2 catalysts and N2-strippingElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c4cy00129j

The current furfural production yield is low due to the use of non-selective homogeneous catalysts and expensive separation. In this work, partially hydroxylated MgF 2 catalysts, synthesized using different water contents, were screened during xylose dehydration in water-toluene at 160 °C. The different Lewis/Brønsted ratios on the MgF 2 catalysts showed that under-coordinated Mg can isomerize xylose to xylulose, whilst the surface OH-groups were responsible for the dehydration reactions. The presence of glucose as a co-carbohydrate reduced the furfural selectivity from 86 to 81%, whilst it also led to high 5-hydroxymethylfurfural selectivity. The tests catalyzed by MgF 2 in combination with simultaneous N 2 -stripping showed that a furfural selectivity of 87% could be achieved using low xylose loadings. Moreover, the catalysts regenerated by H 2 O 2 showed high activity during the dehydration tests in water-toluene at 160 °C. The current furfural production yield is low due to the use of non-selective homogeneous catalysts and expensive separation.