(475f) Selective Catalytic Production of Polyols from Cellulose-Derived Levoglucosenone Conference: AIChE Annual MeetingYear: 2018Proceeding: 2018 AIChE Annual MeetingGroup: Catalysis and Reaction Engineering DivisionSession: Reaction Engineering for Biomass Conversion I Time: Wednesday, October 31, 2018 - 9:45am-10:06am Authors: Krishna, S. H., University of Wisconsin-Madison Dumesic, J. A., University of Wisconsin-Madison Huber, G. W., University of Wisconsin-Madison Schmidt, Z. R., University of Wisconsin-Madison Reduced C6 polyols are valuable precursors to bio-based polymers. [1] Herein, we report a new catalytic route to produce polyols in high yield from the cellulose-derived platform molecule levoglucosenone (LGO). [2] We identify key reaction intermediates and study the roles of the different catalyst active sites on product selectivity, allowing us to propose a mechanism for this reaction which is analogous to well-known sugar chemistry. We also investigate the correlation between the stereochemistry of the reactant and product, explaining these observations in terms of the proposed mechanism. Product stereochemistry could have an impact on the physico-chemical properties of the resulting polymers. Our high-yield route to produce polyols from biomass-derived LGO, as well as our understanding of the underlying catalytic chemistry, open the door to new biomass-based polymers from LGO. References. 1. Corma, A.; Iborra, S.; Velty, A., Chemical Routes for the Transformation of Biomass into Chemicals. Chemical Reviews 2007, 107 (6), 2411-2502. 2. Krishna, S. H.; McClelland, D. J.; Rashke, Q. A.; Dumesic, J. A.; Huber, G. W., Hydrogenation of levoglucosenone to renewable chemicals. Green Chemistry 2017, 19 (5), 1278-1285. Topics: Catalysis Chemical Reaction Engineering Biorefineries