Industrial chemicals with a four-carbon structure, including maleic acid, 1,4-butanediol, γ-butyrolactone, and pyrrolidones, are derived from petroleum. Catalytic synthesis of these C4 chemicals from biomass is challenging because of the scarcity of C4 sugars in biomass feedstock. We show that 5-hydroxy-2(5H)-furanone (5H5F), produced by catalytic oxidation of biomass-derived furfural, is a versatile platform for several oxygen- and nitrogen-containing C4 chemicals. In our study, 5H5F was synthesized in 92% yield by room-temperature oxidation of furfural using TS-1 catalyst. As a platform chemical, 5H5F’s mild reactivity, attributed to the electrophilic carbon attached to the hydroxyl group, enabled its oxidation, reduction, and reductive aminolysis using carbon-supported noble metal catalysts. Industrial C4 chemicals like maleic acid (93%), γ-butyrolactone (93%), 1,4-butanediol (60%), tetrahydrofuran (64%), and 2-pyrrolidone (67%) were obtained from 5H5F under mild conditions (100–150 °C). We envision that 5H5F will be adopted as a platform for C4 chemicals owing to its ease of synthesis and selective transformation to multiple chemicals using heterogeneous catalysts.

中文翻译：

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释放 5-羟基-2(5H)-呋喃酮作为生物基四碳化学品平台的潜力

具有四碳结构的工业化学品，包括马来酸、1,4-丁二醇、γ-丁内酯和吡咯烷酮，均源自石油。由于生物质原料中 C4 糖的稀缺，从生物质催化合成这些 C4 化学品具有挑战性。我们证明，通过生物质衍生的糠醛催化氧化产生的 5-羟基-2(5H)-呋喃酮 (5H5F) 是多种含氧和含氮 C4 化学品的通用平台。在我们的研究中，使用 TS-1 催化剂，通过室温氧化糠醛，合成了 5H5F，收率达到 92%。作为一种平台化学品，5H5F 的温和反应性归因于附着在羟基上的亲电子碳，使其能够使用碳负载的贵金属催化剂进行氧化、还原和还原氨解。 5H5F在温和条件下可得到马来酸（93%）、γ-丁内酯（93%）、1,4-丁二醇（60%）、四氢呋喃（64%）和2-吡咯烷酮（67%）等工业C4化学品（100–150°C）。我们预计 5H5F 将被采用作为 C4 化学品的平台，因为它易于合成并使用非均相催化剂选择性转化为多种化学品。