I-Corps: Selectively convert biomass-derived carbohydrates through a thermochemical process

I-Corps：通过热化学过程选择性地转化生物质衍生的碳水化合物

• 批准号: 1645608
• 负责人: Michael Wong
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: William Marsh Rice University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-08-01 至 2017-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1645608&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Selectively; convert; biomass; derived

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project lie in the areas of sustainability, green chemistry, and advanced manufacturing. Biomass-derived, non-food-based carbohydrates are an abundant and renewable source of carbon, but they are very difficult to process into any useful fuel, chemical or materials products. The proposed activity seeks the development of a new thermal approach to convert carbohydrates into high-value chemicals and chemical precursors, especially those that cannot be readily produced from petroleum or natural gas. The main limitation of the widely studied thermal process known as pyrolysis is that the generated products are too numerous to purify efficiently and economically. In spite of the wastefulness inherent in pyrolysis, one highly desirable class of compounds called anhydrosugars is still produced through carbohydrate pyrolysis at small scale. In particular, the anhydrosugar compound called levoglucosan, or LGA, is the starting material in the synthesis of several classes of natural products, like the important antiparasitic drug Avermectin and antibiotics. Greater accessibility and affordability of LGA would lead to greater accessibility and affordability of the eventual drug or medication.This I-Corps project initially focuses on levoglucosan (LGA) as the test case for demonstrating the improved pyrolysis technology. This technology is based on the newly researched concept of ring-locking, in which a sugar molecule is chemically modified prior to pyrolysis. LGA formation from glucose becomes the dominant reaction (1,6-elimination pathway) when an alkoxy or phenoxy group is attached to a specific location on the glucose ring. The substituent group inhibits the glucose ring from opening and fragmenting into non-anhydrosugar products (ring-opening pathway). In other words, ring-opening has a much higher activation barrier than 1,6-elimination, after the sugar ring is chemically modified. The selectivity to LGA increases from 2% to greater than 90% after pyrolysis of the chemically modified sugar. This improved pyrolysis technology can be applied to other sugars and complex carbohydrates.

这个I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力在于可持续性、绿色化学和先进制造领域。生物质衍生的非食物碳水化合物是一种丰富的可再生碳源，但它们很难加工成任何有用的燃料，化学品或材料产品。拟议的活动寻求开发一种新的热方法，将碳水化合物转化为高价值化学品和化学前体，特别是那些不能从石油或天然气中轻易生产的化学品和化学前体。被广泛研究的称为热解的热过程的主要局限性在于，生成的产物太多而不能有效和经济地纯化。尽管热解中固有的浪费，但仍通过碳水化合物热解以小规模生产一类非常理想的称为脱水糖的化合物。特别是，称为左旋葡聚糖或LGA的脱水糖化合物是合成几类天然产品的起始材料，如重要的抗寄生虫药物阿维菌素和抗生素。LGA的更大的可及性和可负担性将导致最终药物或medication.This I-Corps项目的更大的可及性和可负担性最初侧重于左旋葡聚糖（LGA）作为演示改进的热解技术的测试案例。该技术基于新研究的环锁定概念，其中糖分子在热解之前进行化学修饰。当烷氧基或苯氧基连接到葡萄糖环上的特定位置时，由葡萄糖形成LGA成为主要反应（1，6-消除途径）。取代基抑制葡萄糖环打开并断裂成非脱水糖产物（开环途径）。换句话说，在糖环被化学修饰后，开环具有比1，6-消除高得多的活化势垒。热解化学改性的糖后，LGA的选择性从2%增加到大于90%。这种改进的热解技术可以应用于其他糖和复杂的碳水化合物。