The Dehydration of D-Fructose to 5-Hydroxymethyl-2-furaldehyde

The continuous dehydration of D-fructose is carried out under mild conditions, using the strongly acidic ion-exchange resin with a low divinylbenzene content as the catalyst and dimethyl sulfoxide as the solvent, to give 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furaldehyde in a high yield.