Efficient one-step transformation of chitin to organonitrogen platform compound 3-acetamido-5-acetylfuran with a facile and low-cost ternary composite catalyst.

Chitin, an abundant marine biomass resource, holds great potential for the sustainable preparation of high-valued nitrogen-containing chemicals to reduce the environmental footprint associated with the Haber-Bosch process. However, current synthetic methods for converting chitin into the organonitrogen platform chemical 3A5AF typically suffer from harsh reaction conditions and poor environmental benignity. Herein, we develop a new ternary composite catalyst AlCl3-5TBAC-WO3 to efficiently convert chitin into 3A5AF in one-step in γ-valerolactone (GVL) under mild conditions. The composite catalyst was characterized by FT-IR, XRD, SEM, and pyridine-adsorbed IR to elaborate its superior catalytic performance. After a series of optimization experiments, the highest 3A5AF yield achieved from H2SO4 aged-ball milled-chitin was 32% under mild conditions. Moreover, the reaction was scaled up to 1 g scale, achieving an isolated yield of 16%. This study offers a low-cost, efficient, and eco-friendly route for the sustainable valorization of chitin biomass into valuable organonitrogen chemicals.