The interaction of 5-Hydroxymethyl Furfural (HMF) on a biochar catalyst after the addition of an oxidant and co-catalyst - TOSCA

The oxidation of 5-hydroxymethyl furfural (HMF) can lead to the production of poly(ethylene 2,5-furandicarboxylate) (PEF) – a polymer that could replace the petroleum based polyethylene terephthalate (PET). In this context, we have developed a naturally iron-containing biochar (BCR) catalyst from palm oil empty fruit bunch which we found to catalyse the reaction under very mild conditions by use of an organic peroxide and radical mediator co-catalyst. We have recently probed the mechanism of the catalysis to understand the molecular-scale interaction of the HMF with the BCR using INS and results show that the C-H and O-H of bending modes of HMF are observed differently when the radical initiator TEMPO as the co-catalyst was added. We now wish to probe the mechanism of the catalysis when both the co-catalyst and the oxidant are added. For HMF oxidation such mechanistic detail is missing in the literature and for our material such information will allow us to improve and optimise the catalyst further. BCR is very difficult to study by conventional vibrational spectroscopy, as the infrared spectrum is dominated by the residual oxygen functionalities and the Raman by carbon modes. INS enables the complete spectral range to be examined, and parallel proposals for MAPS (for the region above 2500 cm-1) and TOSCA (for the region below 2500 cm-1) will be submitted.