“…However,i ns pite of all this attention and the promise of av ariety of HMF derivatives with the potential to displace petroleume quivalents in the fuel, polymer,a nd chemical markets, the commercialization of HMF has run into an umber of obstacles. [2,3] First, HMF is ap olar,h ydrophilic molecule that is not easily extracted from the aqueous media in which it is usually generated, whiche ncumbersp roduct isolation.T he use of polar aprotics olvents, aqueous phase modifiers, or ionic liquids have been putf orward as alternatives, but these have drawbacks of their own in terms of cost, stability,t oxicity, recycling, and/or catalystr ecovery.S econd, HMF is sensitive to the acidic conditions under which it is produced, leading to the formationo fh umic matter and resin byproducts, which ultimately limits selectivity.F inally,h igh-yielding production of HMF presently relies on fructosea safeedstock. Although the use of glucose and sucrose in the presenceo fc ertain catalysts has also given good results, none of these sugars will ever be competitive with raw,c ellulosic biomass for commercial productiono f1 or indeed any green chemical.…”