Dimethyl Sulfoxide → D-Arabinose

ICBP Corn Cob (18.9 g, 1-2 mm, 92.5% dry matter) at 25% solid loading was placed in the reactor containing 0.15 M aqueous sulfuric acid (Comparative Example A) or 0.15 M aqueous hydrochloric acid solution (Comparative Example B) (51.1 g) and gradually heated to 160° C. over a period of 13 min and then maintained at this temperature for 30 min as described in the general procedure. At the end of the reaction, the reaction mixture was diluted with water (103.2 g) containing DMSO (1.33 g) and thoroughly mixed. A sample of this reaction mixture was analyzed as described above for xylose and furfural content. The reaction was repeated under identical conditions to validate the reproducibility of data. Results are presented in Table 2. A mixture of furfural, xylose and arabinose was obtained, indicating incomplete conversion of hemicellulose to the desired product furfural.