The team around HOU Xianglin and DENG Tiansheng of the Shanxi Provincial Biorefinery Engineering Technology Research Center at the above institute started out with hydroxymethylfurfural,an intermediate derived from monosaccharides such as glucose, and used used a graphene oxide-supported metal vanadium as a catalyst for oxidation. The best solvents were acetic acid and water.

Maleic anhydride is an important chemical intermediate, e. g., for the synthesis of polymers.

CAS news release, March 6, 2020