Base catalysts for efficient isomerization of glucose

Glucose presents the most readily available sugar, which can be produced based on starch or cellulose. Isomerization of glucose give rise to fructose, a sugar with the same molecular formula but different arrangement of atoms in space. Nowadays, isomerization of glucose into fructose is performed on an industrial level for food industry; this is by far the largest synthetic biocatalytic process. Fructose has recently attracted attention of the research community not only as a sweetener but also as an important intermediate for production of fully renewable plastics. Synthesis of plastics based on renewable resources rather than on exhaustible fossil feedstocks would result in a significant reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. This project aims at developing active, selective, and stable catalysts for isomerization of glucose into fructose, which are more economically viable than currently used biocatalysts. In a cooperation with French project partners, we will work on synthesis of novel solid catalysts, their tests, and exploration of the phenomenon during catalysis using experimental and computational tools. Catalysts present matters which accelerate chemical reactions, though they are not consumed by the reaction. Three major performance metrics of a catalyst are activity, selectivity and stability under the reaction conditions. Activity presents an ability of catalyst to improve a reaction rate. Selectivity refers to formation of a particular product in favor of other products. Stability relates to time for which a catalyst can be used without loss of its performance. Understanding the connections between catalyst structure and its performance metrics will help us to design a catalyst with optimized parameters. Examination of side reactions and reaction mechanism on a molecular level as well as comparison of soluble and solid catalysts present important milestones of the project which will enable getting insight into the chemistry of the catalytic isomerization.