Patent ID: 7579489

Claim:
A method of preparing an R-oxymethylfurfural ether of hydroxylmethylfurfural of the formula: where R is selected from the group consisting of alkyl, cycloalkyl, and allyl, comprising: combining a fructose source and an R-OH solvent to form a reaction mixture and contacting the reaction mixture with a solid acid catalyst bed in a chromatographic column; heating the reaction mixture in the chromatographic column to a temperature and for a time sufficient to promote an acid-catalyzed dehydration reaction of fructose in the fructose source and to form R-oxymethylfurfural in a product mixture in the column; and simultaneously chromatographically separating the product mixture in the column to at least partially separate the R-oxymethylfurfural from other components of the product mixture and elute an enriched fraction containing the R-oxymethylfurfural from the column.