Synthesis of Carboxylic Acids from Saccharides, CO<sub>2</sub>, and H<sub>2</sub>
Li Yang, Ying Wang, Yanru Zhang, Zhenpeng Wang, Junfeng Xiang, Juanjuan Han, Jun He, Longbo Zhang, Yanyan Wang, Qinglei Meng, Qingli Qian, Buxing Han
Abstract
Here we report a strategy to synthesize C 7 carboxylic acids via the reaction of glucose, CO 2 and H 2 . The reaction can be realized using Rh(acac)(CO) 2 as catalyst and I 2 as promoter in the binary solvent of acetic acid and water at 160 °C. The strategy also applies to other C n saccharides, where the corresponding C n+1 carboxylic acids could be obtained and the yield of the acids can reach 72% when glyceraldehyde was used. The reaction pathway was proposed based on a series of control experiments. This work utilized saccharide and CO 2 simultaneously via C–C bond formation, which opens a promising way of biomass utilization and CO 2 conversion.