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Updated: Apr 17, 2026

A Novel Method for the Pentosan Analysis Present in Jute Biomass and Its Conversion into Sugar Monomers Using Acidic Ionic Liquid
Published on: June 1, 2018
Synthesis and verification of biobased terephthalic acid from furfural
Yuya Tachibana1, Saori Kimura2, Ken-ichi Kasuya2
11] Division of Molecular Science, Faculty of Science and Technology, Gunma University, 1-5-1 Tenjin, Kiryu, Gunma 376-8515, Japan [2] PRESTO, Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), 4-1-8 Honcho, Kawaguchi, Saitama 333-0012, Japan.
Abstract:
Exploiting biomass as an alternative to petrochemicals for the production of commodity plastics is vitally important if we are to become a more sustainable society. Here, we report a synthetic route for the production of terephthalic acid (TPA), the monomer of the widely used thermoplastic polymer poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), from the biomass-derived starting material furfural. Biobased furfural was oxidised and dehydrated to give maleic anhydride, which was further reacted with biobased furan to give its Diels-Alder (DA) adduct. The dehydration of the DA adduct gave phthalic anhydride, which was converted via phthalic acid and dipotassium phthalate to TPA. The biobased carbon content of the TPA was measured by accelerator mass spectroscopy and the TPA was found to be made of 100% biobased carbon.
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