Photocatalytic Transformation of Biomass and Biomass Derived Compounds—Application to Organic Synthesis

Biomass and biomass-derived compounds have become an important alternative feedstock for chemical industry. They may replace fossil feedstocks such as mineral oil and related platform chemicals. These compounds may also be transformed conveniently into new innovative products for the medicinal or the agrochemical domain. The production of cosmetics or surfactants as well as materials for different applications are examples for other domains where new platform chemicals obtained from biomass can be used. Photochemical and especially photocatalytic reactions have recently been recognized as being important tools of organic chemistry as they make compounds or compound families available that cannot be or are difficultly synthesized with conventional methods of organic synthesis. The present review gives a short overview with selected examples on photocatalytic reactions of biopolymers, carbohydrates, fatty acids and some biomass-derived platform chemicals such as furans or levoglucosenone. In this article, the focus is on application to organic synthesis.