초록
<P><B>Abstract</B></P> <P>In this study, organic acid could be used as co-catalyst for assisting solid acid SO<SUB>4</SUB> <SUP>2−</SUP>/SnO<SUB>2</SUB>-argil to convert hemicellulose-derived <I>D</I>-xylose into furfural. The relationship between pKa of organic acid and turnover frequency (TOF) of co-catalysis with organic acid plus SO<SUB>4</SUB> <SUP>2−</SUP>/SnO<SUB>2</SUB>-argil was explored on the conversion of <I>D-</I>xylose to furfural. Oxalic acid (pKa = 1.25) (0.35 wt%) was found to be the optimum co-catalyst for assisting SO<SUB>4</SUB> <SUP>2−</SUP>/SnO<SUB>2</SUB>-argil (3.6 wt%) to synthesize furfural from <I>D-</I>xylose (20 g/L) at 180 °C for 20 min, and the furfural yield and TOF could be obtained at 57.07% and 6.26 h<SUP>−1</SUP>, respectively. Finally, the obtained furfural (107.6 mM) could be completely biotransformed to furfuralcohol by recombinant <I>Escherichia coli</I> CCZU-K14 whole-cells at 30 °C and pH 6.5 in the presence of 1.5 mol glucose/mol furfural and 400 mM <I>D</I>-xylose. Clearly, this strategy shows high potential application for the effective synthesis of furfuralcohol from biomass-derived <I>D</I>-xylose.</P> <P><B>Highlights</B></P> <P> <UL> <LI> Relationship between pKa of organic acid and TOF of co-catalysis was explored. </LI> <LI> Oxalic acid (pKa = 1.25) gave the maximum TOF value (6.26 h<SUP>−1</SUP>). </LI> <LI> Furfural was synthesized from <I>D-</I>xylose with oxalic acid plus SO<SUB>4</SUB> <SUP>2−</SUP>/SnO<SUB>2</SUB>-argil. </LI> <LI> High furfural yield (50.8%) from <I>D-</I>xylose (50 g/L) was achieved. </LI> <LI> An effective approach for one-pot synthesis of FOL from <I>D</I>-xylose was demonstrated. </LI> </UL> </P> <P><B>Graphical abstract</B></P> <P>[DISPLAY OMISSION]</P>