Conversion of monosaccharides into levulinic acid/esters: impacts of metal sulfate addition and the reaction medium

BACKGROUND Inorganic salts could be used as catalysts for the effective conversion of sugars. In this study, the impacts of various metal sulfates (Na 2 SO 4 , K 2 SO 4 , MnSO 4 , CoSO 4 , NiSO 4 , ZnSO 4 , CuSO 4 , Fe 2 (SO 4 ) 3 , La 2 (SO 4 ) 3 and Ce(SO 4 ) 2 ) on the conversion of glucose/fructose to levulinic acid in varied reaction media were evaluated. RESULTS The sulfates strongly chelated with the sugars, preventing their dehydration...