Solvent effect on pathways and mechanisms for D-fructose conversion to 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furaldehyde: in situ 13C NMR study.

Noncatalytic reactions of D-fructose were kinetically investigated in dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), water, and methanol as a function of time at temperatures of 30-150 °C by applying in situ (13)C NMR spectroscopy. The products were quantitatively analyzed with distinction of isomeric species by taking advantage of site-selective (13)C labeling technique. In DMSO, D-fructose was converted first into 3,4-dihydroxy-2-dihydroxymethyl-5-hydroxymethyltetrahydrofuran having no double bond in the ring, subsequently into 4-hydroxy-5-hydroxymethyl-4,5-dihydrofuran-2-carbaldehyde having one double bond through dehydration, and finally into 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furaldehyde (5-HMF) having two double bonds. No other reaction pathways were involved, as shown from the carbon mass balance. In water, 5-HMF, the final product in DMSO, was generated with the precursors undetected and furthermore transformed predominantly into formic and levulinic acids and slightly into 1,2,4-benzenetriol accompanied by polymerization. D-glucose was also produced through the reversible transformation of the reactant D-fructose. In methanol, some kinds of anhydro-D-fructoses were generated instead of 5-HMF. The reaction pathways can thus be controlled by taking advantage of the solvent effect. The D-fructose conversion reactions are of the first order with respect to the concentration of D-fructose and proceed on the order of minutes in DMSO but on the order of hours in water and methanol. The rate constant was three orders of magnitude larger in DMSO than in water or methanol.