Selective catalytic conversion of biobased carbohydrates to formic acid using molecular oxygen

A new and straightforward method to transform carbohydrate-based biomass to formic acid (FA) by oxidation with molecular oxygen in aqueous solution using a Keggin-type H5PV2Mo10O40 polyoxometalate as catalyst is presented. Several water-soluble carbohydrates were fully and selectively converted to formic acid and CO2 under very mild conditions. It is worth noting, even complex biomass mixtures, such as poplar wood sawdust, were transformed to formic acid, giving 19 wt% yield (11% based on the carbon atoms in the feedstock) under non-optimized conditions.