Development of Hierarchical Porous MOF-Based Catalyst of UiO-66(Hf) and Its Application for 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural Production from Cellulose

Due to its widely green and sustainable properties, cellulose is identified as a green and sustainable alternative for the preparation of valuable biofuels and chemicals. In this study, Poly-Pickering HIPEs (PHs) was synthesized as the precursor by using Pickering high internal phase emulsion (HIPE) as templates and PHs-SO₃H was prepared after sulfonation treatment. We chemically grafted UiO-66(Hf)-type MOFs onto PHs-SO₃H in order to synthesize a novel catalyst for the transformation of cellulose into 5-HMF, which made clear that HMF yield was improved in the presence of the catalyst. What's more, the 5-HMF yield of 49.6% was obtained under the optimal conditions of 50 mg cellulose, 30 mg catalyst, 60 min of reaction time and 120 °C of reaction temperature. The catalyst is recyclable four cycles without crucial loss of catalytic activity.