Catalytic carbonylation of renewable furfural derived 5-bromofurfural to 5-formyl-2-furancarboxylic acid in oil/aqueous bi-phase system

Abstract Utilizing sustainable biomass to partly replace the fossil feedstock as the carbon source of chemical industry has been well acknowledged because of the scarcity of the fossil resources. This work introduced a novel route for the synthesis of 5-formyl-2-furancarboxylic acid (FFA) from renewable furfural derived 5-bromofurfural, which achieves the transformation of furfural based platform molecule to the products having multifunctional groups, thus opens up its potential market in polymeric applications. Under the optimized conditions, this new catalysis provided up to 99% yield of FFA through oil/aqueous bi-phasic carbonylation. Remarkably, the FFA product could be feasibly separated from the remaining substrate and catalyst because of its aqueous solubility in the biphasic system, giving 95% isolated yield in gram scale synthesis. Currently, FFA is an unstable intermediate in hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) oxidations; in viewing of that furfural is industrially produced from bulky agroforestrial byproducts, this furfural based route to FFA through catalytic carbonylation has offered an opportunity for its production in large scale.