Comparison of thermo-catalytic and photo-assisted thermo-catalytic conversion of glucose to HMF with Cr-MOFs@ZrO₂

Abstract Thermo-catalytic and photo-assisted thermo-catalytic are two effective pathways for conversion of glucose. Thermo-catalytic and photo-assisted thermo-catalytic conversion of glucose was studied with Cr-MOFs@ZrO 2 as catalysts in nitrogen atmosphere at 150 °C. Cr-MOFs@ZrO 2 possesses simultaneously Lewis acid sites as well as Brønsted acid sites, and also has strong Brønsted acidity, so it can exhibit good thermos-catalytic performanc. When the glucose was 3 g/L, the reaction was carried out at 150 °C for 2 h with DMF as solvent, the glucose conversion was 97.9% while the HMF yield was 38%. The yield of HMF can be increased to 51.1% by adding 500w xenon lamp irradiation on the basis of thermal catalytic reaction condition. A comparison of the two reactions revealed that light-assisted thermal catalysis was more favorable for the reaction.