Extremely efficient synthesis of biomass-derived furanic diethers over a sulfonated zirconium–carbon coordination catalyst in alcohol techniques

Instantly changing biomass-derived 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) to 2,5-bis(alkoxymethyl)furans (BAMFs) through a one-pot course of in alcohol techniques is a vital strategy for the synthesis of high-quality biofuels; nonetheless, this strategy is very difficult as a result of it concurrently includes the cascading Meerwein–Ponndorf–Verley (MPV) discount and etherification reactions. Thus, designing an acid–base bifunctional catalyst is extraordinarily fascinating. Herein, we employed a glucose-based carbonaceous strong acid as an affordable natural ligand to organize a sequence of new-type sulfonated zirconium–carbon coordination catalysts (Zr-GC-SO₃H-X) through a easy solvothermal self-assembly technique. By regulating the utilization proportion of zirconium ions and natural ligand, Zr-GC-SO₃H-1.0, possessing a correct Lewis/Brønsted acid ratio in addition to robust Lewis acid–base (Zr⁴⁺–O²⁻) and Brønsted acid (–SO₃H) websites, confirmed the optimum acid–base synergistic results, so it displayed the very best catalytic efficiency. When the one-pot reductive etherification (OPRE) of HMF was carried out in isopropanol, 2,5-bis(isopropoxymethyl)furan (BIPMF) yield might attain 95.8% in 6 h at 180 °C. Moreover, the evaluation outcomes of response processes demonstrated that the MPV discount response of HMF was a lot simpler than its etherification response within the presence of Zr-GC-SO₃H-1.0, so initially forming 2,5-bis(hydroxymethyl)furan (BHMF) after which forming 2-hydroxymethyl-5-(isopropoxymethyl)furan (HIPMF) have been the predominant response pathway for the OPRE of HMF to BIPMF. Extra considerably, Zr-GC-SO₃H-1.0 additionally exhibited wonderful universality and catalyzed the high-yield synthesis of assorted BAMFs in ethanol, n-propanol, n-butanol and sec-butanol. Conclusively, this work offered momentous references to assemble high-efficiency catalysts for the OPRE of HMF.