Renewable lubricants with tailored molecular architecture

We present a strategy to synthesize three types of renewable lubricant base oils with up to 90% yield using 2-alkylfurans, derived from nonfood biomass, and aldehydes, produced from natural oils or biomass through three chemistries: hydroxyalkylation/alkylation (HAA), HAA followed by hydrogenation,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science advances 2019-02, Vol.5 (2), p.eaav5487-eaav5487
Main Authors: Liu, Sibao, Josephson, Tyler R, Athaley, Abhay, Chen, Qile P, Norton, Angela, Ierapetritou, Marianthi, Siepmann, J Ilja, Saha, Basudeb, Vlachos, Dionisios G
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
09 BIOMASS FUELS
bio-inspired
biofuels (including algae and biomass)
catalysis (heterogeneous)
catalysis (homogeneous)
hydrogen and fuel cells
materials and chemistry by design
Organic Chemistry
SciAdv r-articles
synthesis (novel materials)
synthesis (scalable processing)
synthesis (self-assembly)
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Summary:We present a strategy to synthesize three types of renewable lubricant base oils with up to 90% yield using 2-alkylfurans, derived from nonfood biomass, and aldehydes, produced from natural oils or biomass through three chemistries: hydroxyalkylation/alkylation (HAA), HAA followed by hydrogenation, and HAA followed by hydrodeoxygenation. These molecules consist of (i) furan rings, (ii) saturated furan rings, and (iii) deoxygenated branched alkanes. The structures of these molecules can be tailored in terms of carbon number, branching length, distance between branches, and functional groups. The site-specific, energy-efficient C-C coupling chemistry in oxygenated biomass compounds, unmatched in current refineries, provides tailored structure and tunable properties. Molecular simulation demonstrates the ability to predict properties in agreement with experiments, proving the potential for molecular design.
ISSN:2375-2548
2375-2548
DOI:10.1126/sciadv.aav5487