Carbohydrates as Organic Raw Materials

Abstract

In view of the impending transition of chemical industry from depleting fossil raw materials to renewable feedstocks — the end of cheap oil is predicted around 2040 — this account gives an overview on chemically and enzymatically transforming carbohydrates, by far the major part of the annually regrowing biomass, into products with versatile industrial application profiles and the potential to eventually replace those presently derived from petrochemical sources. The article contains sections titled: 1. Introduction 2. Availability of Carbohydrates 3. Current Nonfood Industrial Products from Sugars 3.1. Ethanol 3.2. Furfural 3.3 d-Sorbitol 3.4 Lactic Acid and Polylactic Acid (PLA) 3.5. Sugar-Based Surfactants 3.5.1. ‘Sorbitan’ Esters 3.5.2. N-Methyl-N-acyl-glucamides (NMCA) 3.5.3. Alkylpolyglucosides (APG) 3.5.4. Sucrose Fatty Acid Monoesters 3.6. Pharmaceuticals and Vitamins 4. Toward Further Sugar-based Chemicals: Potential Development Lines 4.1. Furan Compounds 4.1.1. 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) 4.1.2. 2,5-Dimethylfuran (DMF) 4.1.3. Furans with a Tetrahydroxybutyl Side Chain 4.2. Dihydropyrones 4.3. Sugar-Derived Unsaturated Nitrogen Heterocycles 4.3.1. Pyrroles 4.3.2. Pyrazoles 4.3.3. Imidazoles 4.3.4. 3-Pyridinols 4.4. Toward Sugar-Based Aromatic Chemicals 4.5. Microbial Conversion of Six-Carbon-Sugars into Simple Carboxylic Acids and Alcohols 4.5.1. Carboxylic Acids 4.5.2. Potential Sugar-Based Alcohol Commodities by Microbial Conversions 4.6. Chemical Conversion of Sugars into Carboxylic Acids 4.7. Biopolymers from Polymerizable Sugar Derivatives 4.7.1. Synthetic Biopolyesters 4.7.2. Microbial Polyesters 4.7.3. Polyamides 5. Outlook 6. References