Ethyl levulinate is an

organic compound Some chemical authorities define an organic compound as a chemical compound that contains a carbon–hydrogen or carbon–carbon bond; others consider an organic compound to be any chemical compound that contains carbon. For example, carbon-co ...

with the formula CH₃C(O)CH₂CH₂C(O)OC₂H₅. It is an ester derived from the

keto acid In organic chemistry, keto acids or ketoacids (also called oxo acids or oxoacids) are organic compounds that contain a carboxylic acid group () and a ketone group ().Franz Dietrich Klingler, Wolfgang Ebertz "Oxocarboxylic Acids" in Ullmann's En ...

levulinic acid Levulinic acid, or 4-oxopentanoic acid, is an organic compound with the chemical formula, formula CH3C(O)CH2CH2CO2H. It is classified as a keto acid. This white crystalline solid is soluble in water and polar organic solvents. It is derived from d ...

. Ethyl levulinate can also be obtained by reaction between

ethanol Ethanol (also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol, with its formula also written as , or EtOH, where Et is the ps ...

and

furfuryl alcohol Furfuryl alcohol is an organic compound containing a furan substituted with a hydroxymethyl group. It is a colorless liquid, but aged samples appear amber. It possesses a faint odor of burning and a bitter taste. It is miscible with but unstabl ...

. These two synthesis options make ethyl levulinate a viable

biofuel Biofuel is a fuel that is produced over a short time span from Biomass (energy), biomass, rather than by the very slow natural processes involved in the formation of fossil fuels such as oil. Biofuel can be produced from plants or from agricu ...

option, since both precursors can be obtained from

biomass Biomass is a term used in several contexts: in the context of ecology it means living organisms, and in the context of bioenergy it means matter from recently living (but now dead) organisms. In the latter context, there are variations in how ...

: levulinic acid from 6-carbon polymerized sugars such as

cellulose Cellulose is an organic compound with the chemical formula, formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to many thousands of glycosidic bond, β(1→4) linked glucose, D-glucose units. Cellulose is an important s ...

, and

furfural Furfural is an organic compound with the formula C4H3OCHO. It is a colorless liquid, although commercial samples are often brown. It has an aldehyde group attached to the 2-position of furan. It is a product of the dehydration of sugars, as occu ...

from 5-carbon polymerized sugars such as

xylan Xylan (; ) ( CAS number: 9014-63-5) is a type of hemicellulose, a polysaccharide consisting mainly of xylose residues. It is found in plants, in the secondary cell walls of dicots and all cell walls of grasses. Xylan is the third most abu ...

and arabinan.

References

Carboxylate esters Ethyl esters {{ester-stub