Solvents are intrinsic parts of many chemical reactions, and the “solvent-friendly chemical thinking” has evolved due to its many practical advantages. Industrial activities have resulted in the release of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including conventional solvents, to the environment, and several of them have led to serious environmental concerns. According to FDA guidelines, ^the utilization of some "classic" organic solvents, such as benzene or toluene, must be avoided or limited, just to name a few. However, if solvents are necessary to perform appropriate transformations, alternatives that have no or limited impact on the environment have to be selected and introduced in process and synthetic chemistry.

The research activities focusing on the replacement of conventional and usually toxic organic solvents have led to the identification of biomass-based alternative reaction media[i] such as alkyl levulinates, g-valerolactone, 1,4-pentanediol, Cyrene^TM and its derivatives that can be utilized for industrially important homogeneous catalytic reactions.

Recently, several catalytic reactions such as acid-catalyzed dehydration of various carbohydrates,[ii] carbonylation reactions[iii] including hydroformylation,[iv] aminocarbonylation,[v] alkoxycarbonylation,[vi] cross coupling reactions,[vii] hydrogenation[viii] etc. were demonstrated in biomass-based solvents.

Details of the applications of biomass-based solvents from by the concept of “from Molecular Level to Process Design (MoLePoD)”, including their advantages and limitations, will be presented and discussed.

Bio：

László T. Mika received his PhD (2010) in organic- and organometallic chemistry at Eötvös University Budapest, Hungary, working with Prof. István T. Horváth. He then moved to the Budapest University of Technology and Economics and now he is a full professor with tenure and Head of the Department of Chemical and Environmental Process Engineering and vice-head of Georg Olah Doctoral School of the Faculty of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology. He leads the Laboratory of Catalysis and is interested in different areas of green chemistry, including homogeneous catalysis, biomass conversion, and applications of alternative reaction media.