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

The use of renewable raw materials for the production of biofuels has become an important area of research due to the depletion of fossil fuels and climate change.As a raw material for future biological plants,chitin can be obtained from crustacean waste produced by the global fishing industry every year.Its development and utilization will bring significant economic and environmental benefits to the chemical production business,and it can ensure the chemical industry,which will be a sustainable future.Chitin is a non-branched polymer of repeating N-acetylglucosamine(NAG)units with a nitrogen content of 7% by weight and is a highly promising biorenewable nitrogenous chemical.Chitosan,a polycationic biopolymer,is a deacetylated form of chitin.3-Acetylamino-5-acetylfuran(3A5AF)is a small molecule that can be obtained directly from chitin or directly from NAG.3A5 AF is unique in biodegradation products because it retains the valuable,biologically fixed nitrogen present in chitin.5-Hydroxymethylfurfural(5-HMF)is also one of the platform compounds extracted from chitin or chitosan,as a biomass-derived platform molecule,5-hydroxymethylfurfural is a highly desirable feedstock for manufacturing of high value-added chemicals ranging from starting materials for polyesters to biofuels,with high potential and versatility in the synthesis of fuels and materials.In this work,we demonstrate the utilization of biomass-based catalysts for efficiently converting N-acetylglucosamine(NAG)into value-added compound3-acetamido-5-acetylfuran(3A5AF).By using choline chloride(Ch Cl),a cheap and non-toxic quaternary ammonium salt,as the catalyst,we obtain a high yield of 57% to3A5 AF in the presence of boric acid under mild conditions.We further show that the yield can be increased to 65% within 10 min when HCl is utilized as the additive and investigate the kinetics of the quick formation of the 3A5 AF product.To the best of our knowledge,this is the highest NAG to 3A5 AF conversion yield reported up to date.Moreover,we show that betaine-hydrochloric acid(B-Cl)and betaine-sulfuric acid(B-S)can be another renewable and sustainable catalyst which promotes the conversion of NAG into 3A5 AF with a 55% yield and chitosan into 5-HMF with a40% yield.Our studies not only suggest sustainable catalysts,but also provide green procedures for producing 3A5 AF from NAG in a highly efficient manner.