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Green Chem., 2020, DOI: 10.1039/D0GC01517B Published by The Royal Society of Chemistry
Synthesis of p-xylene from waste biomass and its further conversion into biopolymers.
Green Chem., 2020, DOI: 10.1039/D0GC01517B Published by The Royal Society of Chemistry
Representation of “Three-in-one” reaction in continuous flow for the synthesis of pXL from waste biomass derivable DMF and AA. J. A. M. Mesa, F. Brandi, I. Shekova, M. Antonietti and M. Al-Naji, “p-Xylene from 2,5-dimethylfuran and acrylic acid using zeolite in continuous flow system”
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Lemonade, juice and mineral water often come in PET bottles. While these are practical and functional, their production is complex and not necessarily sustainable. The starting material for terephthalic acid, which is used to produce saturated polyesters such as PET (Polyethylene terephthalate), is p-xylene pXL. To this day, the production of pXL is still based on fossil raw materials. pXL is considered one of the most important building blocks in the polymer industry. In 2015, around 37 million tons of pXL were used, mainly for the production of PET and other polyester fibers. These figures show very clearly that there is a great need for the selective synthesis of pXL from renewable raw materials.
The "Biorefinery and Sustainable Chemistry" team at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam has now developed a green and sustainable approach to selective pXL synthesis. This approach involves a heterogeneously catalyzed three-in-one reaction: Diels-Alder cycloaddition of biologically derived 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF) to acrylic acid (AA), dehydration to form the phenyl ring and final decarboxylation to pXL in a continuous flow system.
The result of this process is a very valuable product mixture. This consists of 83% pXL and 17% 2,5-dimethylbenzoic acid (DMBA), which can be easily separated due to its boiling points. This new approach will enable the synthesis of green, sustainable and biodegradable polymers in the future, for example the replacement of packaging materials for plastic bottles, films and textile fibers derived from fossil raw materials.
First programmable photocatalyst developed
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces have developed a sustainable and "smart photocatalyst". The special feature: as a so-called smart material, it can distinguish between the colors of light (blue, red and green) and, in response, enables a specific chemical r ... more
In milliseconds from polluted to clear water
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces developed a membrane that is composed of a bundle of nanometer-sized tubes. They used it as a nanoreactor to convert water marked with methylene blue into clear water in milliseconds using sunlight as a driver. ‘Running reac ... more
Put into the right light - Reproducible and sustainable coupling reactions
A team of researchers reports in the journal Nature Catalysis that sustainable carbon-nitrogen cross-couplings can be performed using simple nickel salts, carbon nitrides and light. The chemists study the use of cost-effective and reproducible semiconductors as photocatalysts in coupling re ... more
With Light in the Fight against Malaria
Malaria represents a global threat to health, which is difficult to keep under control. Amongst more than 200 million sufferers, over 500,000 die each year of the disease, with the risk of a fatal outcome being particularly high in children [1]. more
born 1983, studied chemistry at the University of Regensburg and received his doctorate from the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam, in the Department of Colloid Chemistry. Since Sept. 2011, he has been working as a post-doctoral fellow for Prof. Dr. Seeberger at the ... more
born 1966, studied chemistry at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, and received his doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Colorado. After holding a post-doctorate position at the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research in New York City, he was Assistant Professor and Fir ... more
Neuroscientists illuminate how brain cells deep in the cortex operate in freely moving mice
How can we see what neurons deep in the cortex are doing during behavior? Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Neurobiology of Behavior - caesar (MPINB) have developed a miniature microscope small enough to be carried on the head of a freely moving mouse and capable of measuring ... more
Researchers from Dresden and Vienna reveal link between connectivity of three-dimensional structures in tissues and the emergence of their architecture to help scientists engineer self-organising tissues that mimic human organs. Organs in the human body have complex networks of fluid-filled ... more
Back to the Future of Photosynthesis
The central biocatalyst in Photosynthesis, Rubisco, is the most abundant enzyme on earth. But how did Rubisco evolve, and how did it adapt to environmental changes during Earth’s history? By reconstructing billion-year-old enzymes, a team of Max Planck Researchers has deciphered one of the ... more
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