Conversion of fructose to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural using ionic liquids prepared from renewable materials

Efficient conversion of fructose to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural is a key step for using carbohydrates to produce liquid fuels and value-added chemicals. Here we show that some ionic liquids synthesized from cheap renewable materials are very efficient for the conversion of fructose to HMF. The yield and selectivity could be higher than 90% as the reaction was conducted in an ethyl acetate/renewable IL biphasic system and the separation process had no cross-contamination. Moreover, the IL can be reused easily.