Synthesis of levulinic acid from fructose using Amberlyst-15 as a solid acid catalyst

Levulinic acid was obtained from fructose over solid acid catalysts under mild reaction conditions in water. The reaction was carried out at different temperatures and amounts of catalysts to find the best reaction conditions. Among tested heterogeneous catalysts, Amberlyst-15 gave the highest LA yield (52%) with the lowest HMF yield (below 3%) under optimum conditions. Levulinic acid was isolated from the mixture after reaction by rotary vacuum evaporator with 47% isolated yield. The recycling experiments showed that Amberlyst-15 exhibited good activity even after 5 runs, though the LA yield gradually decreased from 52 to 30%.