Synthesis of Boron-Doped Phenolic Porous Carbon As Efficient Catalyst for the Dehydration of Fructose into 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural

Porous carbon materials are widely used in adsorption, supercapacitors, catalytic reactions, electrochemistry, and so on. However, the need to develop porous carbon materials with easy template removal and controllable pore size is urgent. This study provides an efficient strategy for the preparation of boron-doped phenolic porous carbon through in situ pyrolysis to form a template. Phenylboronic acid is used to cross-link novolac resin. The optimization of the pyrolysis conditions reveals that boron oxide (B₂O₃) is formed at 400 °C. The porous carbon material with a high specific surface area is obtained utilizing the hydrolysis characteristics of B₂O₃. After loading titanate, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural with a high yield (92%) is achieved at 20 °C in ethanol. The catalytic activity showed no significant decrease after utilization six times. The method is simple and easy to implement, providing an efficient catalyst for the conversion of biomass materials into biofuels.