Biomass valorization and enabling techniques

A great effort has been made in recent years to maximize the sustainable use of biomass-derived raw materials, minimizing carbon dioxide emissions and avoiding competition with human and animal food. Prominent among the platform chemicals from biomass are furanoderivatives, such as furfural and hydroxymethylfurfural obtained by dehydration of pentose and hexose sugars, respectively. These are versatile molecules that have attracted increasing attention as raw materials for the production of a wide variety of high value-added compounds. Among these, chalcones, exhibit multiple biological activities. In particular, by exploiting several unconventional activation techniques, such as microwave irradiation and acoustic cavitation, coupled with the use of heterogeneous catalysts, an optimized synthetic strategy for the sustainable synthesis of several furanocalcones has been developed. The synthesized compounds will be tested in collaboration with the Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences at the University of Turin for their antiviral activity.