Chemocatalytic production of sorbitol from cellulose via sustainable chemistry – a tutorial review

Abstract

Sorbitol, which is a six carbon polyol typically derived from glucose, is widely used in food, personal care and pharmaceutical products. Sorbitol production processes that use cellulose as feedstock are much less developed than those that use glucose and are important for future sustainability. Herein, we review the latest progress in chemocatalytic production of sorbitol from cellulose with emphasis on sustainable chemistry. Relevant feedstocks include isolated cellulose solids, pretreated biomass, and raw lignocellulosic biomass that use homogeneous multi-step, heterogeneous one-pot, or flow-chemistry catalytic approaches for sorbitol production. In the processes analyzed, we focus on state-of-the-art results achieved with supported metal catalysts, and explore their characteristics, active site functionalities, reaction kinetics and mechanisms for guiding the design of future sorbitol chemocatalytic production systems.