Research On The Preparation Of High Value-added Chemicals From Chitin Biomass

Efficient valorization of biomass resource is the main way to resolve the crisis of future energy supply and chemical replenishment.Maximum the utilization of biomass is of great significance.Chitin biomass,which is renewable and affluent in nature,is the second most abundant biomass and the most abundant N-containing biopolymer on earth.Whereas,the existing research on chitin biomass is still insufficient,leading to the absence of effective way to utilize chitin biomass.Lacking of efficient valorization methods,huge amount of chitin produced annually had to be abandoned directly,which leads to the waste of biomass resource and the pollution of environment.Therefore,it is very essential and necessary to seek for novel pathways to transform chitin to value-added products.One approach to solve this problem is to convert chitin biomass into bio-fuel and high value chemicals,which is also very meaningful for industrial application.5-Hydroxymethylfurfural(5-HMF)and 3-acetamido-5-acetylfuran(3A5AF)are two important biomass-based platform chemicals,which could be further converted into bio-fuels and N-containing fine chemicals.They are regarded as the linkage and bridge between biomass and chemicals.The main purpose of this article is seeking for an efficient way to transform chitin biomass into value-added chemicals as 5-HMF and 3A5AF with fine yields.In this paper,we synthesized a series of ionic liquids which were used as catalysts to convert chitosan and chitin to 5-HMF and 3A5AF with satisfying results.In the study of converting chitosan to 5-HMF,reactions were carried out under hydrothermal conditions using water as green solvent and benzimidazolium chloride[HBIM]Cl and 1-carboxymethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride[HOOCMMIM]Cl as catalyst.After optimizing the reaction conditions,5-HMF yields of 34.9%and 33.5%were obtained from[HBIM]Cl and[HOOCMMIM]Cl as catalyst,respectively.In the study of converting N-acetylglucosamine to 3A5AF,reactions were carried out under refluxing at atmospheric pressure using 3-butylbenzimidazolium chloride[BBIM]Cl as catalyst,boric oxide as additive and NMP as solvent.Under optimal conditions,a maximum 3A5AF yield of 62.8%was achieved.These experiments enriched the basic research on converting chitin biomass to value-added chemicals.