Diminishing fossil fuel reserves and growing concerns about global warming indicate that sustainable sources of energy are needed in the near future. For fuels to be useful in the transportation sector, they must have specific physical properties that allow for efficient distribution, storage and combustion; these properties are currently fulfilled by non-renewable petroleum-derived liquid fuels. Ethanol, the only renewable liquid fuel currently produced in large quantities, suffers from several limitations, including low energy density, high volatility, and contamination by the absorption of water from the atmosphere. Here we present a catalytic strategy for the production of 2,5-dimethylfuran from fructose (a carbohydrate obtained directly from biomass or by the isomerization of glucose) for use as a liquid transportation fuel. Compared to ethanol, 2,5-dimethylfuran has a higher energy density (by 40 per cent), a higher boiling point (by 20 K), and is not soluble in water. This catalytic strategy creates a route for transforming abundant renewable biomass resources into a liquid fuel suitable for the transportation sector, and may diminish our reliance on petroleum.

Liquid transportation fuels must burn cleanly and have high energy densities, criteria that are currently fulfilled by petroleum, a non-renewable resource, the combustion of which leads to increasing levels of atmospheric CO(2). An attractive approach for the production of transportation fuels from renewable biomass resources is to convert carbohydrates into alkanes with targeted molecular weights, such as C(8)-C(15) for jet-fuel applications. Targeted n-alkanes can be produced directly from fructose by an integrated process involving first the dehydration of this C(6) sugar to form 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, followed by controlled formation of C-C bonds with acetone to form C(9) and C(15) compounds, and completed by hydrogenation and hydrodeoxygenation reactions to form the corresponding n-alkanes. Analogous reactions are demonstrated starting with 5-methylfurfural or 2-furaldehyde, with the latter leading to C(8) and C(13) n-alkanes.

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