Brønsted Acid- Functionalized Carbon from Mangosteen Peel for Catalytic Conversion of Carbohydrates to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural

https://doi.org/10.62239/jca.2025.056

Abstract

A low-cost and efficient solid Brønsted acid catalyst was successfully synthesized by sulfonating a carbon substrate derived from mangosteen peel, denoted as PC-SO₃H. This bio-based carbon material, after functionalization with –SO₃H groups, was employed as a heterogeneous catalyst for the conversion of fructose into 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), an important platform compound in the production of furan-based derivatives. The reaction was conducted at 120 °C for 2 hours, yielding an HMF selectivity of up to 71.6%. In addition, reaction parameters were investigated to evaluate their influence on conversion efficiency and product selectivity. The study results demonstrated that PC-SO₃H not only exhibited high catalytic performance but also showed promising potential for practical application in biomass-based chemical synthesis processes due to its reusability. Based on experimental data and catalyst characterization techniques, including FTIR, Raman, SEM-EDX, a reaction mechanism was proposed for the dehydration of fructose catalyzed by PC-SO₃H.