Project Portugal 2030

Summary

The overall goal of the FURAN4SUS project is to develop sustainable processes for the synthesis of new chemical entities with diverse applications using bio-based chemicals as starting materials. The development of sustainable processes based on the Green Chemistry principles, which are in line with UN Sustainable Development Goals, and have already demonstrated their capability to promote significant environmental benefits, innovation and a strengthened economy. The project involves innovative chemistry of furans aligned with Green Chemistry principles to achieve the following goals: i) Review known methods for the synthesis of bis-furans with the aim to increase their sustainability (E-factor values lower than 10) and enable adequate use of bis-furans as feed-stock in subsequent transformations; ii) Development of selective hetero-Diels-Alder reaction to transform bis-furan into furan-hybrids: e.g. furan-oxazines and furan-pyperazines, (more than 5 new families of compounds) in a sustainable way (E-factor values inferior than 10) and their further transformation to furan-pyridines and furan-polyenes among others; iii) Exploring cross-reactivity to transform furan-hybrids into novel structures without the furan unit, e.g. bis-pyridines, pyridine-pyperazine, polyene-pyperazine, pyridine-polyenes, and polyenes (more than 8 families of compounds) using sustainable methods (E-factor values inferior than 10). iv) Comprehensive mechanistic studies to develop new synthetic routes and improve reaction outcomes. Exciting preliminary results on bis-furan transformations in solution have already shown the potential of the furan reactivity to expand the chemical space, which, together with the already proved feasibility of the mechanochemical induced hetero-Diels-Alder reaction in solvent-free conditions, ensures the feasibility of the project objectives. The project also aims to establish partnerships with the industrial sector of the region Centro with the potential to develop the various applications that will incorporate the new compounds into the production chain to enable materials to be obtained from biomass, promoting the replacement of compounds from non-renewable fossil resources.