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Abstract:
The present work deals with the isomerization of glucose in methanol, using the discovered catalyst kaolin for this reaction. In this way obtained fructosides, will be used for the conversion into platform chemicals subsequently. At first, the natural carbon cycle is considered in Section 1. Hereafter, the vegetable materials composition and fractionation is contemplated. After discussing the separation and isomerization of glucose, the dehydration of fructose into platformchemicals is evaluated. Two additional chapters cover the fundamentals of the used clay mineral kaolin and likewise, the principals of design of experiments. After presenting the aim of this work in Section 2, Section 3.1 first deals with the solubility properties of certain glycosides. Afterwards, analysis of the product mixture is discussed and the utilization of a gas chromatographic method is demonstrated. Subsequent to the identification of kaolin as cost efficient and natural catalyst for glucose isomerization, Section 3.2 deals with the comparison and characterization of kaolin samples from different suppliers. Following the identification of the most promising catalyst, reaction conditions are optimized in order to maximize the fructoside yield. After the evaluation of different treatment procedures regarding this catalyst, its stability is assessed. To this end, the recyclability and heterogeneous nature is analyzed, besides the stability under continuous flow conditions for several days. Furthermore, this chapter also deals with the scale up of reaction volume. The in this way obtained product solution is converted into two different platform chemicals, using a commercial acidic catalyst and reaction condition optimization in Section 3.3.