Metal-Organic Frameworks and Their Derived Structures for Biomass Upgrading

Biomass valorization is receiving increasing attention over the past years with the consumption of traditional fossil fuels as well as the deterioration of the global environment. The transformation of biomass into highly value-added chemicals and important feedstocks will be of keen interest and great impact. The conversion process of biomass requires efficient and durable catalysts with high selectivity and stable structures. This chapter focuses on the employment of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), MOF composites (metal, metal oxide, or polyoxometalates combined with MOFs), and MOF-derived materials (carbon, carbon-supported metal or metal oxide by using MOF as precursors) as solid catalysts for the upgrading of biomass into important fine chemicals. First, we will give a short introduction of biomass and MOFs, and then the brief biomass valorization reactions by MOFs and MOF-based catalysts based on the types of substrates. The last segment is summary of the state of the art, challenges, as well as prospects of MOFs and MOFs-derived structures for biomass transformation.

Keywords: Biomass, Heterogeneous catalysts, Metal-organic frameworks, Platform chemicals, Porous materials, Transformation.