AsianScientist (Apr. 2, 2014) – In the future, the clothes you wear could be made from sugar. Researchers at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) have discovered a new chemical process that can form adipic acid directly from sugar.
Adipic acid is an important chemical used to produce nylon for apparel and other everyday products like carpets, ropes and toothbrush bristles. Commercially, adipic acid is produced from petroleum-based chemicals through the nitric acid oxidation process, which emits large amounts of nitrous oxides, a major greenhouse gas that causes global warming.
In contrast, bio-based adipic acid can be synthesized from mucic acid obtained from fruit peels. However, current processes are either performed using multiple steps with low product efficiency and yield, or under harsh reaction conditions using high-pressure hydrogen gas and strong acids, which are costly and unsafe.
Deoxydehydration, that is, the simultaneous removal of oxygen and water, is necessary to convert mucic acid to adipid acid. The researchers found that by combining deoxydehydration and the transfer hydrogenation reaction in one reactor, they could obtain a high yield of adipic acid at 99 percent of the starting material. Existing protocols can only achieve a yield of around 60 percent.
This method is ideal for industrial development because the process can be performed in one or two steps, the end product is pure, and the reaction conditions are mild and safe.
Dr Yugen Zhang, IBN Group Leader in green chemistry and energy said, “This work shows the tremendous potential of developing bio-based adipic acid. We are excited that our new protocol can efficiently convert adipic acid from sugar, bringing us one step closer toward industrialization. To complete this green technology, we are now working on using raw biomass as the feedstock.”
This finding was published recently in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition.
The article can be found at: Li X et al. (2014) Highly Efficient Chemical Process to Convert Mucic Acid into Adipic Acid and DFT Studies of the Mechanism of the Rhenium-Catalyzed Deoxydehydration.
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Source: Agency for Science, Technology and Research; Photo: Lori L. Stalteri/Flickr/CC.
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