LAUSR

Degradation of cellulose to reducing sugar is the key step for the conversion of cellulose to valuable chemicals. Cellulose was degraded by WCl6 in 1-butyl-3-methyl imidazole chloride at 80 °C and lower. 83% and 85.5% yield of total reducing sugar was gotten at 70 and 80 °C, respectively. Compared with inorganic acid, heteropoly acid, acidic ionic liquid and other metal chlorides, WCl6 has shown better catalytic performance for degradation of cellulose to reducing sugar. The effect of reaction temperature, reaction time, WCl6 amount and cellulose concentration were investigated. Degradation of cellulose by WCl6 in 1-butyl-3-methyl imidazole chloride is a zero reaction. WCl6 also showed excellent catalytic performance for the degradation of nature cellulose and lignocellulose. Catalyst can be reused at least 5 times without decrease of reducing sugar yield. The mechanism of degradation of WCl6 was also suggested.