Kinetics of Reaction of Fructose to Form 5-(hydroxymethyl) Furfural

The mechanism of acid-catalyzed dehydration of fructose to form 5-hydroxymethylfurfural was probed by studying the kinetics of this reaction with an Amberlyst-70 catalyst in DMSO. These kinetic data will be discussed in terms of insights they provide for the reaction mechanism, the individual reactive steps, and the rate limiting step.