Patent ID: 8642790

Claim:
A process for preparing a 5-acyloxymethylfurfural, comprising: (a) reacting at ambient pressure a saccharide comprising a monosaccharide unit having 6 carbon atoms with (i) an acid which is not an acidic ion exchanger in the presence of a metal cation selected from the group consisting of alkali metal ions, alkaline earth metal ions, aluminum ions and mixtures thereof, thereby obtaining a mixture; (b) adding an anhydride and/or chloride of a carboxylic acid R—(—COOH) x wherein R and x are each as defined in formula (II) to the mixture from (a) and allowing them to react to form a 5-acyloxymethylfurfural of formula (II); and (c) recovering the 5-acyloxymethylfurfural of the formula (II) wherein x =1 or 2, R is an alkyl, alkenyl, aryl or heteroaryl radical when x =1, R is an alkylene, alkenylene, arylene or heteroarylene radical when x =2.