One‐Pot Conversion of Biomass Saccharides to γ‐Valerolactone over a Versatile Tin‐Containing Material

The synthesis of biofuel γ‐valerolactone (GVL) from accessible biomass is an attractive and challenging goal. Here, we report an efficient, one‐pot, and mild strategy for the efficient production of GVL from various biomass saccharides without using any homogeneous acid as a co‐catalyst and molecular hydrogen as a hydrogen donor. A versatile porous tin‐containing material (Sn(M)‐S) was designed as an individual heterogeneous catalyst. As high as 68.4% yield of GVL form glucose was achieved in the presence of ammonia borane as a solid hydrogen donor under mild conditions, with GVL yields of 76.2%, 68.9%, 62.5%, and 52.2% being obtained from fructose, sucrose, cellobiose, and cellulose, respectively. The synergistic effect of Sn and sulfonic acid group in Sn(M)‐S not only provides appropriate Lewis acid sites to promote the isomerization of glucose into fructose but also affords abundant Brønsted sites for the following conversion steps. Moreover, Sn(M)‐S(1) showed good stability and reusability during consecutive recycles.