Toward an Integrated Conversion of 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural and Ethylene for the Production of Renewable p-Xylene

The use of biomass as a solution to satisfy the pressing needs for a fully sustainable biocommodity industry has been explored for a long time. However, limited success has been obtained. In this study, a highly effective two-stage procedure for the direct preparation of para-xylene (PX) from 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and formic acid in one pot is described; these chemicals are two of themajor bio-based feedstocks that offer the potential to address urgent needs for the green, sustainable production of drop-in chemical entities. The use of a robust, efficient heterogeneous catalyst, namely, bimetallic Pd-decorated Au clusters anchored on tetragonal-phase zirconia, is crucial to the success of this strategy. This multifunctional catalytic system can not only facilitate a lowenergy- barrier H-2-free pathway for the rapid, nearly exclusive formation of 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF) from HMF but also enable the subsequent ultraselective production of PX by the dehydrative aromatization of the resultant DMF with ethylene.