Microwave assisted efficient furfural production using nano-sized surface-sulfonated diamond powder

Sulfonated nano-sized diamond powder (S-DP) was tested in a typical water-CPME (1:3, v/v) biphasic system and heated in a commercial monowave microwave oven to promote the dehydration of D-xylose into furfural as industrial platform molecule. This new heterogeneous catalyst with a propyl linker between the support and the sulfonyl group expressed remarkable sufficient hydrophilicity, affinity for D-xylose and catalytic activity in presence of NaCl. The solid can act as a strong acidic catalyst without detectable exchange between proton exclusively localized on the surface of the catalyst and sodium ion. It was also stable at 200 degrees C even after severe recycling treatment. The final optimized condition requires 10 wt% of the catalyst for a maximum furfural yield of 76% when the mixture is heated for 50 min in the current biphasic system.