Controllable conversion of biomass-derived oxygenates to synthesize functional chemicals

Biomass is the most abundant renewable organic carbon resource. Fully utilization of biomass as an alternative for fossil resources to produce value-added chemicals or fuels can alleviate some challenging issues related with energy/resource shortage and environmental pollution. In this context, selective conversion of biomass-derived oxygenates is an important research topic in the field of biomass conversion, which can greatly increase the types of biomass-based chemicals and fuels. Thereby, conversion of biomass-derived oxygenates into functional chemicals has received gradually increasing attention. In this article, we summarize the progress in our group on the controllable conversion of biomass-derived oxygenates to synthesize functional chemicals in recent years, mainly including hydrogenation/hydrolysis of biomass-derived oxygenates, reductive amination of biomass-derived oxygenates, and oxidative conversion of biomass-derived oxygenates. Finally, we discuss the key scientific problems and the main challenges in the controllable conversion of biomass-derived oxygenates, and analyze the development prospects for this important field.