Acid-Assisted Ball Milling of Cellulose as an Efficient Pretreatment Process for the Production of Butyl Glycosides.

Ball milling of cellulose in the presence of a catalytic amount of H2SO4 was found to be a promising pre-treatment process to produce butyl glycosides in high yields. Conversely to the case of water, n-butanol has only a slight effect on the recrystallization of ball-milled cellulose. As a result, thorough depolymerization of cellulose prior the glycosylation step is no longer required, which is a pivotal aspect with respect to energy consumption. This process was successfully transposed to wheat straw from which butyl glycosides and xylosides were produced in good yields. Butyl glycosides and xylosides are important chemicals as they can be used as hydrotropes but also as intermediates in the production of valuable amphiphilic alkyl glycosides.