Efficient Synthesis of Sugar Alcohols under Mild Conditions Using a Novel Sugar-Selective Hydrogenation Catalyst
Xiao-Jian Zhang1,2, Hai-Wei Li1,2, Wang Bin1,2
1The National and Local Joint Engineering Research Center for Biomanufacturing of Chiral Chemicals, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China.
Abstract:
Sugar alcohols are the prominent alternatives of sugars in food, medical, and health industries. The ruthenium supported on multiwalled carbon nanotubes (Ru/MWCNTs) catalysts were prepared based on the Ru valence regulation strategy and applied for selective sugar hydrogenation to prepare various sugar alcohols including xylitol, arabinitol, sorbitol, mannitol, and galactitol for the first time, with high selectivity (>99.0%) and yield (>98.0%) under mild conditions (≤110 °C, 3.0 MPa H2 pressure). The hydrogenation reaction of xylose was further optimized and under mild conditions (100 °C, 3.0 MPa H2 pressure, and 500 rpm), which were lower than ever reported for high efficient synthesis of xylitol, 99.8% xylose conversion and 99.0% xylitol yield were achieved after 120 min of reaction.
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