Cellobiose hydrolysis using organic–inorganic hybrid mesoporous silica catalysts Original Research Article

The hydrolysis of cellobiose, a model system for oligosaccharide hydrolysis, was examined using organic–inorganic hybrid mesoporous catalysts. The activity of butylcarboxylic acid, propylsulfonic acid and arenesulfonic acid functionalized silicas were determined for cellobiose hydrolysis as well as glucose degradation. The hydrolysis rate constants for the three catalyst types were proportional to their pH values at ambient temperature and the apparent activation energies for the hydrolysis reaction were the same suggesting that hydrated protons were the catalytic species in the reaction. The apparent activation energy for glucose degradation was the same for each of the catalysts and was lower than that found for the hydrolysis reaction. As such, higher reaction temperature improved the selectivity of the hydrolysis reaction relative to the degradation reaction. The desirability of high reaction temperatures made the organic–inorganic hybrid materials preferable to polymer-based catalysts.