Simple Chemical Transformation of Lignocellulosic Biomass into Furans for Fuels and Chemicals

Lignocellulosic biomass is a plentiful and renewable resource for fuels and chemicals. Despite this potential, nearly all renewable fuels and chemicals are now produced from edible resources, such as starch, sugars, and oils; the challenges imposed by notoriously recalcitrant and heterogeneous lignocellulosic feedstocks have made their production from nonfood biomass inefficient and uneconomical. Here, we report that N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMA) containing lithium chloride (LiCl) is a privileged solvent that enables the synthesis of the renewable platform chemical 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) in a single step and unprecedented yield from untreated lignocellulosic biomass, as well as from purified cellulose,…