An enzyme mimic ammonium polymer as a single catalyst for glucose dehydration to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural

An ammonium resin (PBnNH3Cl) was used as a single catalyst for the glucose and polysaccharide dehydration to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) in high selectivity (>80%) in a DMSO or biphasic reaction system. The isomerization mechanism was also studied by using the DFT computational method. ASTAR (Agency for Sci., Tech. and Research, S’pore)