Adsorbents for the Selective Adsorption of HMF From DMSO

5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is an important intermediate chemical for producing valuable chemicals from biomass and it can be synthesized very selectively from the dehydration of fructose in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). Aiming at the ambient temperature separation of HMF from the reaction mixture, we identified adsorbents that can selectively adsorb HMF from mixtures with sugars in DMSO. We will discuss the types of adsorbents that are appropriate for this separation and the interesting phenomenon of enhanced HMF adsorption in the presence of sugars at a certain composition window.