Algal biomass was converted into 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) in five chemical steps: conversion to 5-(chloromethyl)furfural (5-CMF), ammoniation, ring-opening (photo-oxidation), reduction, and hydrolyzation. Among them, we mainly focused on the 5-CMF production and the following ammoniation. To our knowledge, the mixed solvent catalytic system of deep eutectic solvent (DES) and low concentration hydrochloric acid is the first reported for the synthesis of 5-CMF from algal biomass, providing a 24.6% 5-CMF yield at 120 °C for 5 h. Potassium phthalimide (KPI) was employed as an ammoniation reagent with superb selectivity and activity instead of conventional sodium azide (NaN₃). Optimizing the experimental design, a 23.7% 5-ALA yield along with high purity (>96%) was achieved from 5-CMF, and the total 5-ALA yield was 5.8% from algal biomass. This work provides a green and mild pathway for 5-ALA production from algal biomass.

在五个化学步骤中，将藻类生物质转化为5-氨基乙酰丙酸（5-ALA）：转化为5-（氯甲基）糠醛（5-CMF），氨化，开环（光氧化），还原和水解。其中，我们主要集中在5-CMF的生产和随后的氨化上。据我们所知，深共熔溶剂（DES）和低浓度盐酸的混合溶剂催化系统是第一个从藻类生物质合成5-CMF的报道，在120°C下可提供24.6％的5-CMF收率5 H。邻苯二甲酰亚胺钾（KPI）被用作具有卓越选择性和活性的氨化试剂，代替了传统的叠氮化钠（NaN ₃）。优化实验设计，从5-CMF中获得了23.7％的5-ALA产率以及高纯度（> 96％），而从藻类生物质中获得的5-ALA的总产率为5.8％。这项工作为藻类生物质生产5-ALA提供了绿色和温和的途径。