Renewable Platform Chemicals: The Bulk Chemicals of the Future

Abstract

Dear friends and colleagues,

This year, it is 20 years ago that the report, commissioned by the US Department of Energy, “Top Value Added Chemicals from Biomass Volume I–Results of Screening for Potential Candidates from Sugars and Synthesis Gas” was published. Based on the premise that the 21^st century will see the use of fossil feedstocks phased out for the production of chemicals, the report analyzed the possibilities of producing chemicals from renewable resources. The authors coined the term platform chemicals for compounds that not only can be economically produced from biomass, but also are versatile enough to allow conversion into a range of different useful derivatives. The term has caught on, and many chemists agree that renewable platform chemicals will become the bulk chemicals of the future from which a large range of fine chemicals will be prepared.

In the meantime, large-scale production plants for biomass-based furan compounds have opened in The Netherlands, Canada and the USA. Nevertheless, there is still a long way to go and for this reason a special issue on platform chemicals is a good way to take stock of the current developments in the field.

It is clear that the past 20 years have seen many new developments in this area. Not only were hundreds of applications found for the existing platform chemicals, but also, a number of new platform chemicals appeared on the stage. One prominent example is 1,3-propanediol, which is produced on large scale in the US by fermentation. In this issue you can read the very first review article on possible applications of 1,3-propanediol.

Levulinic acid remains an extremely interesting platform chemical in view of all its possible applications. It is currently still produced from furfural, but announcements have been made about a new plant which should produce levulinic acid directly from biomass. This could drastically change the scene. In this issue we have a review article on recent applications of levulinic acid as well as a communication on new syntheses of heterocycles from levulinic acid.

Chitin is an often-overlooked form of biomass. However, it is abundantly available in the form of shells from crustaceans. In this issue, the syntheses of new heterocyclic compounds made from chitin-derived 3-acetamidofuran are described.

Dehydration is one of the most essential reactions in biomass conversion and the deoxydehydration reaction is a prime example in which diols are converted to alkenes. In this issue a novel molybdenum-based catalyst for this reaction is revealed.

Perhaps somewhat unexpected, but biomass-derived chemicals are also finding their way into pharmaceuticals as testified by the review on this topic.

We hope you enjoy this special issue entitled The Organic Chemistry of Platform Chemicals.