Recently, a carbon-based solid acid consisting of polycyclic aromatic carbon combined functional groups such as a sulfonic acid groups has been demonstrated to act as a strong solid acid catalyst for the hydrolysis of cellulose into oligosaccharide and glucose in the presence of the water. However, the details of the amorphous carbon structure and catalysis-related structure remain to be clarified. Thus, the hydrolysis of water-soluble β-1,4 glucan, saccharide polymers linked by β-1,4 glycosidic bonds, was examined on the carbon material to understand the relationship between the catalytic activity and the structure in the present study. Carbon-based solid acid catalysts were prepared by sulfonation of amorphous carbon obtained by carbonization of cellulose, and their catalytic activities were evaluated through the hydrolysis of water-soluble β-1,4 glucan such as cellobiose and cellohexaose. The carbon material catalytically hydrolyzed cellobiose into glucose without the production of the by-products such as 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, and levulinic acid, exhibiting three times higher activity for the hydrolysis of cellobiose than the conventional solid acid catalysts. Furthermore, there was no noticeable difference in the catalytic activity and the structure before and after reaction. In the case of the hydrolysis of cellohexaose, although the tested conventional solid acid catalysts could hardly hydrolyze cellohexaose, the carbon catalyst exhibited much higher catalytic performance than the conventional solid acid catalysts. The adsorption of β-1,4 glucan on each of the solid acid catalysts suggests that the high catalytic performance of the carbon catalyst is attributed to the ability of the material to adsorb β-1,4 glucan, which does not adsorb to other solid acids.

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