High Catalytic Performance of Aquivion PFSA, a Reusable Solid Perfluorosulfonic Acid Polymer, in the Biphasic Glycosylation of Glucose with Fatty Alcohols

The catalytic performance of Aquivion PFSA, a solid superacid, was investigated in the catalytic glycosylation of glucose with fatty alcohols. Four main criteria were considered to evaluate the catalytic performance of Aquivion PFSA: (1) the selectivity of the reaction, (2) the turnover frequency, (3) the reactor productivity, and (4) the catalyst stability/recycling. To shed light on the catalytic performance of Aquivion PFSA, it was systematically compared to H2SO4, which is industrially employed in such reactions. We discovered that Aquivion PFSA surpassed the catalytic performance of H2SO4 in terms of activity, selectivity, and reactor productivity. In particular, Aquivion PFSA selectively converted glucose to alkyl polyglucosides (DP = 1.2) with 85% yield, which corresponded to a reactor productivity as high as 477 kg/(m(3) h). Conversely to H2SO4, Aquivion PFSA was also capable of selectively producing alkyl polyglucosides directly from glucose syrup, a cheap source of glucose. This result was ascribed to the amphiphilic nature of Aquivion PFSA, which facilitated the Pickering-like emulsification of the biphasic reaction medium. Finally, owing to its high chemical and mechanical properties, Aquivion PFSA was highly stable under our working conditions and could be recycled at least 10 times without obvious loss of its catalytic performance.