We are currently studying the dissolution and hydrolysis of cellulose and lignocellulosic biomass in Brönsted acid ionic liquids for the production of ethanol from non-food biomass resources. Metal ion catalyzed degradation of cellulose is another area of interest, which involves the use of metal catalysts for depolymerization of cellulose and selective dehydration to produce furan derivatives such as 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and furfural. HMF has found a special place in this category of renewable resources based chemicals as a bifunctional heterocyclic system with the potential to be converted to a variety of useful intermediates for polymers and many other fine chemicals. Oxidation of HMF using green-chemistry technologies is another area of study, and this involves the development of catalysts for economical and environmentally friendly oxidation methods for the preparation of furan-dialdehyde and furan-dicarboxilic acid from HMF. We are investigating the synthesis of next generation biodegradable polymeric materials from these renewable resources based furans.
Insoluble polymer supported metal catalysts show longer life, better selectivity, higher efficiency and are easily separated from reactants and products compared to homogeneous catalysts. Novel immobilization techniques using silica sol-gel methods for Co, Mn, and Fe based catalytic systems are another area of current research. These catalytic systems will be used in oxidation, epoxide ring opening, cycloaddition and polymerization reactions.
Selected publications (10 out of >60 publications)
[1]. Ananda S. Amarasekara, Onome S. Owereh, Sukesh K. Aghara. Synthesis of functionalized polysiloxane 4-acylpyrazolone Schiff base ligand system and its applications in the adsorption of lanthanide ions from aqueous solutions. Journal of Sol-Gel Science and Technology,2009, in press - online: Springerlink
[2].Ananda S. Amarasekara, Onome S. Owereh. Homogeneous phase synthesis of cellulose carbamate silica hybrid materials using 1-n-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ionic liquid medium. Carbohydrate polymers,2009, 78(3), 635-638.
[3]. Ananda S. Amarasekara, Chidinma Ebede. Zinc chloridemediated degradation of cellulose at 200 0C and identification of the products. Bioresource Technology, 2009,100(21), 5301-5304.
[4].Ananda S. Amarasekara, Dalkeith Green and LaToya D.Williams. Renewable resources based polymers: Synthesis and characterization of 2,5-Diformylfuran –urea resin.European Polymer Journal, 2009, 45(2), 595-598.
[5].Ananda S. Amarasekara, LaToya Williams, Chidinma Ebede. Mechanism of the dehydration of D-fructose to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural in dimethylsulfoxide at 150 0C: an NMR study. Carbohydrate Research, 2008, 343(18), 3021-3024.
[6]. Ananda S. Amarasekara, Ivana McNeal, Jeffry Murillo, Dalkeith Green, Alecia Jennings.A simple one-pot synthesis of Jacobson-Katsuki type chiral Mn(III)-salencatalyst immobilized in silica by sol-gel process and applications in asymmetric epoxidation of alkenes. Catalysis Communications, 2008, 9(14), 2437-2440.
[7].Ananda S. Amarasekara, Dalkeith Green, Erinn McMillan. Efficient oxidation of 5-
hydroxymethylfurfural to 2,5-diformylfuran using Mn(III)-salen catalysts. Catalysis Communications,2008,9(2), 286-288.
[8]. Ananda S. Amarasekara, Aderemi R. Oki, Ivana McNeal, Uchenna Uzoezie. One-pot synthesis of cobalt-salen catalyst immobilized in silica by sol-gel process andapplications in selective oxidations of alkanes and alkenes. Catalysis Communications, 2007, 8(7), 1132-1136.
[9]. Ananda S. Amarasekara, Edigin Osayamen and Wendy Hernandez. Cycloaddition reactions of 5-hydroxymethyl-furan-2-nitrileoxide. Letters in Organic Chemistry,2007, 4(5), 306-308.
[10]. Ananda S. Amarasekara, Wendy Hernandez, Paul Bonham. Baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cereviasiae) mediated transformations of C-aryl-N-phenylnitrones.Tetrahedron Letters, 2006, 47(28), 4893-4895.
Ananda Amarasekara