Abstract

Production of renewable chemicals with established market and high value is highly desirable in biomass utilization. Herein, glucosamine, an amino sugar with various applications, was generated in a single step by the acid-catalyzed transformation of chitin. Aprotic polar solvents were mixed with water to promote the hydrolysis as well as the deacetylation reactions, significantly enhancing product yield and/or reducing the concentration and amount of acid catalyst required. By employing the optimized co-solvent system, glucosamine was achieved with 80 % yield at 175 °C in 1 h from ball-milled chitin, in sharp contrast with the pure water system with the same acid concentration in which less than 1 % glucosamine was obtained. Correlations between the promotional effect and various solvent property parameters were discussed and proposed, providing guidance on the choice of solvent for further optimization of the co-solvent system for similar applications.