Efficient conversion of glucosamine to levulinic acid in a sulfamic acid-catalyzed hydrothermal reaction?

RSC Advances Pub Date: 2018-01-16 DOI: 10.1039/C7RA12980G

Abstract

Glucosamine is a monomer of chitosan, which is a biopolymer derived from the exoskeletons of crustaceans. This work investigated the conversion of glucosamine into the platform chemical levulinic acid (LA), in a sulfamic acid-catalyzed hydrothermal reaction. The optimized results of LA production showed that the conditions of 200 °C, 125 g L?1 glucosamine, 0.3 M sulfamic acid, and 15 min produced a 33.76 ± 0.19 mol% LA yield. The same conditions produced only 0.14 mol% 5-HMF yield. These results show that glucosamine is a potential bioresource to produce platform chemicals. Also, in the field of biofuels and chemical synthesis processes, the catalytic system using sulfamic acid is significant.

Graphical abstract: Efficient conversion of glucosamine to levulinic acid in a sulfamic acid-catalyzed hydrothermal reaction
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