Sulfonated Vermiculite-Mediated Catalysis of Reed(Phragmites communis) into Furfural for Enhancing the Biosynthesis of 2-Furoic Acid with a Dehydrogenase Biocatalyst in a One-Pot Manner

摘要

2-Furoic acid (FA), an upgrading product of furfural via oxidation, has been widely used in flavor, fragrance, polymer, agrochemical, and pharmaceutical industries, which can be manufactured from biomass-derived furfural. It is known that reed (iPhragmites communis ) is renewable, abundant, and inexpensive lignocellulosic biomass. In this study, FA was synthesized from reeds via the chemoenzymatic route. First, sulfonated tin-based vermiculite (Sn-vermiculite) was prepared as a solid acid catalyst to transform reeds into furfural, and 4.0 wt % loading of Sn-vermiculite gave furfural (55.0 mM) in a yield of 38.4% from NaOH-soaked reeds (AP-reeds) at 170 °C within 20 min. XRD, FT-IR, and SEM indicated that pretreated reeds had roughness and complexity of a wall surface because of severe pretreatments. In Sn-vermiculite-treated AP-reeds, over 98% of xylan in untreated reeds was removed. Furfural was obtained at 0.231 g furfural/g of xylan in AP-reeds. Furthermore, iEscherichia coli HMFOMUT whole cells harboring dehydrogenase were used for biotransforming furfural to FA at 30 °C and pH 6.5. Finally, AP-reed-derived furfural was entirely into FA with 0.269 g FA/g of xylan in AP-reeds by iE. coli HMFOMUT whole cells after 30 h. Significantly, this hybrid strategy was successfully established for transforming reeds to FA by sequential catalysis via the Sn-vermiculite catalyst and dehydrogenase biocatalyst.