Supported ionic liquid silica nanoparticles (SILnPs) as an efficient and recyclable heterogeneous catalyst for the dehydration of fructose to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural

Supported ionic liquid nanoparticles (SILnPs) having particle size ranging from 293 +/- 2 to 610 +/- 11 nm have been prepared by immobilization of ionic liquid, 1-(tri-ethoxy silyl-propyl)-3-methyl-imidazolium hydrogen sulfate (IL-HSO4) on the surface of silica nanoparticles. The catalytic activity of the prepared SILnPs was investigated for the dehydration of fructose to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) in the presence of dimethylsulfoxide ( DMSO) as a solvent. The reaction temperature and amount of catalyst have been optimized for dehydration of fructose over SILnPs using experimental design leading to 99.9% fructose conversion and 63.0% HMF yield using silica SILnPs (d = 610 +/- 11) nm at 130.0 degrees C in 30 min reaction time. The SILnPs catalysts developed in this study present improved performances over other zeolites and strong acid ion exchange resin catalysts, and they have been efficiently and very easily recycled over seven times without any significant loss in fructose conversion and HMF yield.