The quest for sustainable solvents is currently a matter of intense research and development, as solvents significantly contribute heavily to the waste generated by chemical industries. Cyclopentyl methyl ether (CPME) is a promising eco‐friendly solvent with valuable properties such as low peroxide formation rate, stability under basic and acidic conditions, and relatively high boiling point. This Review discusses the potential use of CPME for applications in biotechnology (e.g., biotransformations, as solvent or cosolvent), biorefineries, and bioeconomy (e.g., for furan synthesis or as an extractive agent in liquid–liquid separations), as well as for other purposes, such as chromatography or peptide synthesis. Although CPME is currently produced by petrochemical means with a remarkably high atom economy, its biogenic production can be envisaged from substrates such as cyclopentanol or cyclopentanone, which can be derived from furfural or from (bio‐based) adipic acid, respectively. The combination of the promising properties of CPME as a (co)solvent with a future (economic) biogenic origin would be advantageous for setting strategies aligned with the sustainable chemistry principles.

中文翻译：

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环戊基甲醚（CPME）：一种适用于生物技术和生物炼制厂的多功能生态友好型溶剂

由于溶剂对化学工业产生的废物有重大贡献，因此对可持续溶剂的追求目前是一个密集的研究与开发问题。环戊基甲基醚（CPME）是一种有前途的生态友好型溶剂，具有有价值的特性，例如过氧化物的形成速率低，在碱性和酸性条件下的稳定性以及相对较高的沸点。该评论讨论了CPME在生物技术（例如，生物转化，作为溶剂或助溶剂），生物精炼厂和生物经济（例如，用于呋喃合成或用作液-液分离的提取剂）以及其他方面的潜在用途目的，例如色谱法或肽合成。尽管目前通过石化手段生产的CPME具有很高的原子经济性，可以设想其生物生产来自底物，例如环戊醇或环戊酮，这些底物可以分别来自糠醛或（基于生物的）己二酸。CPME作为（共）溶剂的有前途特性与未来（经济）生物起源的结合将有利于制定与可持续化学原理一致的策略。