A one-pot synthesis is a strategy to improve the efficiency of a chemical reaction whereby a reactant is subjected to successive chemical reactions in just one reactor. The one pot conversions studied here are based on noble metals. A summary of the yield over different noble metals are given in this [Figure](#image-1856). **Summary of research results:** * In this work, we investigated the additive effect of other noble metals such as Ru, Rh, Pt and Pd to the Ir–ReOx/SiO2 catalyst for the one-pot aqueous phase conversion of furfural into 1,5-PeD. As a result, it was found that Pd-added Ir–ReOx/SiO2 (Pd–Ir–ReOx/SiO2) is the most effective (Art. [#ARTNUM](#article-26548-2017742383)). * it was found that Rh–Ir–ReOx/SiO2 is more effective than Pd–Ir–ReOx/SiO. The highest yield of 1,5-PeD was 71.1% from highly concentrated furfural (50 wt%) and 78.2% from diluted furfural (10 wt%) when using Rh (0.66 wt%)–Ir–ReOx/SiO2 as catalyst. The high performance of Rh(0.66)–Ir–ReOx/SiO2 could be attributed to its unique structure. The ReOx-species-modified Ir–Rh alloy enhanced the hydrogenation rate of furfural to the tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol (THFA) intermediate in the low temperature step as compared to Ir–ReOx/SiO2. THFA was converted to 1,5-pentanediol by hydrogenolysis during the high temperature step over the same ReOx-modified Ir–Rh alloy. (Art. [#ARTNUM](#article-26548-1981986998)) * The invention relates to a catalyst used in a ring-opening hydrogenation reaction of a furan derivative. The catalyst is applied to direct preparation of one-step ring-opening hydrogenation of 1,5-pentanediol and 1,2-pentanediol by taking furfural or furfuryl alcohol serving as a raw material under a mild condition. The catalyst can provide two active ingredients, namely the ring-opening active center of a transition metal oxide and the hydrogenation active center of Pt, Pd, Rh, Ru, Co or Ni, wherein the active center of the transition metal oxide is mainly used for adsorbing furfural or furfuryl alcohol and directly hydrogenating a furan ring for opening the furan ring; and the hydrogenation active center of a noble metal or Co, Ni and the like is mainly used for quickly hydrogenating anintermediate material and hydrogenating subsequent enol so as to obtain 1,5-pentanediol and 1,2-pentanediol. An environmentally-friendly, reproducible, low-cost, mild and effective method is provided for producing 1,5-pentanediol and 1,2-pentanediol. The high-performance ring-opening hydrogenation catalyst is also suitable for the ring-opening hydrogenation reaction of other furan derivatives. (Art. [#ARTNUM](#article-26548-2830237051)) **Requirements:** * Purity of the initial component (ex: furfural): Highly concentrated furfural (50 wt%,71m1% yield ) and diluted furfural (10 wt%, yield 78,2%) * Complexity (# of steps): One pot / Two step * Reaction medium: Rh–Ir alloy catalyst

Reducing the production of 1,5-diol to one step most probably opens another avenue for competitive production of 1,5-pentanediol (PDO, or pentane-1,5-diol) as the conventional pathway to PDO from furfural was via multi-step hydrogenation (via THFA/Methyl-THF). Onepot selective conversion of furfural into 1,5pentanediol (1,5PeD) was carried out over Pdadded Ir– ReOx/SiO2catalysts through twostep reaction temperatures. The Pd(0.66 wt%)–Ir–ReOx/SiO2catalyst showed the best performance in the production of 1,5PeD from furfural. The maximum yield of 1,5PeD was 71.4%. The furfural conversion and yield of 1,5PeD was almost maintained during four repeated tests when the catalyst was calcined again. The characterization results from TPR, XRD, XANES, EXAFS and FTIR of adsorbed CO indicated that Pd– Ir–ReOx/SiO2catalysts consisted of ReOxmodified Pd metal particles and ReOxmodified Ir metal particles. The lowertemperature reaction step was very crucial for the total hydrogenation of furfural into a tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol intermediate, which was converted into 1,5PeD by hydrogenolysis during the high temperature step over the ReOxmodified Ir metal particles. The effect of Pd amount of Pd–Ir–ReOx/SiO2 on the conversion of furfural was investigated (entries 6–12). Under these conditions, all the catalysts achieved >99.9% furfural conversion. Both the yields of the intermediate THFA and overhydrogenolysis products (pentanols) were less than 15%. The dependence of 1,5-PeD yield on the Pd loading amount is volcano-type. Among them, Pd(0.66)–Ir–ReOx/SiO2 showed the best performance and 1,5-PeD yield reached 62.4%. ([Art. #ARTNUM](#article-26766-2017742383)) **Requirements:**([Art. #ARTNUM](#article-26766-2017742383)) * Purity of the initial component (ex: furfural): In the case of low concentration (below 20%), the yield of 1,5-PeD was almost constant. However, as furfural concentration increased to 50%, the yield of 1,5-PeD decreased significantly and furfural was polymerized to some extent. 20 to 50%. * Complexity (# of steps): One pot / Two step * Reaction medium: Pd-Ir/SiO2 catalyst

Achieving low cost and mild reaction conditions are the prime interests for the chemical industry. Furfural is an organic compound derived from a variety of biomass, such as corncobs, oat, wheat bran and sawdust, which is the raw material of tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol and much cheaper. Therefore, how to directly convert furfural to diols with a new kind of catalyst under mild conditions is an interesting and challenging work. Thiw work studies the development of a Pt/Co2AlO4 catalyst and its excellent catalytic performance in the direct conversion of furfural to 1,5-pentanediol at low pressure (1.0–1.5 MPa). A novel nanosized mesoporous Co–Al spinel with high surface area and suitable basicity was developed and used as a solid base catalyst or a bifunctional catalyst after loading with Pd in our group recently. The Cop-Pt/Co2AlO4 catalyst is prepared by co-precipitation for the direct conversion of furfural to 1,5-pentanediol. This new route to produce 1,5-pentanediol from furfural over Cop-Pt/Co2AlO4 catalyst. It is low cost and could be operated under mild conditions. In particular, at 1.5 MPa, 140 1C, 1,5-pentanediol yield reaches B35% after reaction for 24 h; this is the highest value reported under mild conditions so far. In this kind of catalysts, CoOx (Co3+ ions, especially) is mainly responsible for the absorption of CQC and the opening of the furan ring, while Pt works for the following hydrogenation. This rule can guide the design of more-efficient and stable catalysts for the catalytic direct conversion of furfural to 1,5-pentanediol with high stability. ([Art. #ARTNUM](#article-27210-1994790185)) **Requirements:**([Art. #ARTNUM](#article-27210-1994790185)) * Purity of the initial component (ex: furfural): N.C. * Complexity (# of steps): Direct / 5 steps (See [Figure](#image-1858) ). * Reaction medium: Pt/Co2AlO4 catalyst with nanosized mesoporous Co–Al spinel

Catalytic strategies for the synthesis of 1,5pentanediol (PDO) with 69% yield from hemicellulose and the synthesis of 1,6hexanediol (HDO) with 28% yield from cellulose are presented. In the TriVersa Process™, a white birch biomass feedstock was solubilized by dilute sulfuric acid to produce a high purity solid cellulose (90–94.5% purity and 35–42% yield), a soluble hemicellulose (>90% of hemicellulose in biomass feedstock), and a lignin stream in GVL/H2O (80/20) solvent. The soluble hemicellulose was converted into furfural at 85% yield in less than 30 seconds. Furfural has been shown to form THFA in 96% yield by vapor phase hydrogenation.20 THFA was converted into PDO in 84% overall yield via the threestep DHH process. THFA was converted into DHP in 87% yield by vapor phase dehydration with g-Al2O3. Uncatalyzed DHP hydration in water produced 2-HYTHP and 2-HY-THP dimers in 99% yield. Ru catalysts hydrogenated 2-HY-THP to PDO in 97% yield. This conversion represents an 80% yield of PDO from furfural. HDO was produced from the cellulose by first dehydrating cellulose into LGO and HMF (48% yield) in a THF/H2O mixture with acid catalysts. This mixture was then hydrogenated using Ni/SiO2, followed by hydrogenolysis over Pd/SiO2–Al2O3 with 83% overall selectivity to THFDM. A 70% yield to HDO from THFDM was obtained with Pt-based catalysts A process model was developed to estimate the economics of this process for a 1000 dry metric tons white birch per day plant. The minimum selling price for the production of HDO and PDO is $4090 per ton, which is similar to the market price of HDO derived from petroleum. Our analysis suggests that two parameters that appear to be the most important are the concentration of cellulose and THFDM and the HDO yield. In addition, further process integration and continuous flow studies are also required to evaluate the impact of contaminants and the catalyst stability. ([Art. #ARTNUM](#article-26761-2594054213)) **Requirements:**([Art. #ARTNUM](#article-26761-2594054213)) * Purity of the initial component (ex: furfural): From high puritiy ellulose * Complexity (# of steps): 5 catalytic steps * Reaction medium: Ni / Pd / Pb -based catalysts

Although there has been interest in the conversion of furfuryl alcohol for more than a few decades, most of the catalysts have disadvantages regarding their environmental impact (e.g., chromium containing catalysts); necessity for special solvents or additives (e.g., Adam’s catalyst; or at least the price of the catalyst, as in the case of platinum‐based catalysts. copper-containing catalysts seems to be a promising alternative due to copper’s low price and the wide industrial availability. **Summary of research results:** * The hydrogenolysis of furfuryl alcohol gives access to two important diols. Interestingly, the amount of 1,5-pentanediol, accessible via breaking the opposite C–O bond in the furan ring, is comparatively low with regard to 1,2-pentanediol. A more pronounced but similar relation in the selectivity distribution between the two diols is observed when using ruthenium catalysts (Art. [#ARTNUM](#article-26544-2587520367)). * An industrially suitable method of producing a 1,5pentanediol and / or 1,6hexanediol in a high yield with Coppercontaining catalyst and an acid value (AV value) 0.5 mgKOH / g or less of alcohol or acid value to (AV value) hydrogenating the esterified product by the prereduced catalyst in an ester of below 0.5 mgKOH / g the above problems in is solved. Based on cyclohexane glutaric acid byproduct during the production of cyclohexanone is oxidized with oxygen or an oxygencontaining gas, adipic acid, carboxylic acid mixture such as 6hydroxycaproic acid, methanol, ethanol, butanol, 1,6hexanediol esterified with alcohols (Art.[#ARTNUM](#article-26544-2775997820) ). * According to the method, a highly dispersed copperbased composite metal oxide is adopted as a catalyst, methanol, ethanol, isopropanol or dioxane is adopted as a solvent, and a furan derivative is subjected to selective hydrogenolysis in an intermittent stirring reaction kettle or continuous fixed bed reactor at a reaction temperature of 120180 DEG C under a hydrogen pressure of 110 MPa to prepare the pentanediol, Art. [#ARTNUM](#article-26544-2814474070). * A method for efficiently producing high-purity 1,5-pentanediol by reacting tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol with hydrogen. Through a hydrogenolysis reaction of tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol with hydrogen carried out in the presence of a copper-containing catalyst with reaction temperature of 200 to 350° C. and reaction pressure of 1 to 40 MPa (Art. [#ARTNUM](#article-26544-US8940946B2)). **Requirements:** * Purity of the initial component (ex: furfural): N.C. * Complexity (# of steps): 3 - 4 steps * Reaction medium: Copper catalyst

Dihydropyran (DHP) undergoes autocatalyzed hydration to 2hydroxytetrahydropyran (2HYTHP) by carboxylic acids formed in situ in both batch and continuous flow reactors. A 3-step process for the production of 1,5-PD from furfural-derived tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol (THFA) as shown in this [Figure](#image-1862). In the first reaction step, THFA is dehydrated in the vapor phase over γ-Al2O3 to dihydropyran (DHP).14,15 The DHP is then hydrated with H2O in the liquid phase to form 2-hydroxytetrahydropyran (2-HY-THP) without the addition of any external catalyst.12 The 2-HY-THP undergoes ring-opening tautomerization in H2O to form 5-hydroxyvaleraldehyde (5HVal) which can be hydrogenated into 1,5 PD over Ru catalysts. The overall yield of all reaction steps is 90%. Although this process has more reaction steps than the traditional direct hydrogenolysis of tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol (THFA), techno-economic analyses demonstrate that this process is the economically preferred route for the synthesis of biorenewable 1,5-PD. (Art. [#ARTNUM](#article-22907-2594109166)) More information also available [here](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/cssc.201700178). **Requirements:** * Purity of the initial component (ex: furfural): 20% DHP in water * Complexity (# of steps): More than traditional * Reaction medium: γ-Al2O3, Ru catalysts

5-Aminovalerate (5AVA) is the precursor of valerolactam, a potential building block for producing nylon 5, and can potentially be used as a C5 platform chemical for synthesizing 5-hydroxyvalerate, glutarate, and 1,5-pentanediol. **Summary of research results:** * Metabolic engineering ofE. coliby establishing a heterologouspathway composed of the P. putida davBanddavAgenes, encodinglysine 2-monooxygenase and delta-aminovaleramidase, respec-tively, allowed production of 5AVA from L-lysine. The metabolicengineering strategies developed in this study will be useful forthe production of C5 platform chemicals, including 5AVA andglutarate, both of which can be used as important precursors forproducing other C5 chemicals. (art, [#ARTNUM](#article-26765-2044151225)). * Under optimal conditions, 20.8 g/L 5-aminovalerate was produced from 30 g/L L-lysine in 12 h. Because L-lysine is an industrial fermentation product, the two-enzyme coupled system presents a promising alternative for the production of 5-aminovalerate (Art. [#ARTNUM](#article-26765-1994889276)). **Requirements:** * Purity of the initial component (ex: furfural): N.C. * Complexity (# of steps): Preliminary steps * Reaction medium: E-Coli / L-Lysine

Recombinant proteins are formed by transfecting foreign genes into a host cell. Recombinant proteins are commonly used to produce pharmaceutical products, protein-based polymers for drug delivery, antibodies and enzymes for disease treatment, protein scaffolds for tissue engineering, as well as for a myriad of other uses. Recombinant hosts for producing polyhydroxyalkanoates and methods of producing polyhydroxyalkanoates from renewable carbon substrates are provided. Certain recombinant hosts that produce 5 carbon chemicals such as 5aminopentanoate (5AP), 5hydroxyvalerate (5HV), glutarate, and 1,5 pentanediol (PDO). Another recombinant host is genetically engineered to overexpress 5-hydroxyvalerate CoA transferase, CoA dependent propionaldehyde dehydrogenase, and 1,3-propanediol dehydrogenase to produce 1.5 pentanediol. 1.5 pentanediol is produced using 5-hydroxyvalerate, lysine starch, Sucrose, glucose, lactose, frucrose, Xylose, maltose and arabinose alone or in combinations as feedstock. Preferably the recombinant host has deletions in adhE, ldha, and ackA-pta and expresses lysine 2-monooxygenase, 5-aminopentanami dase, 5-aminopetanoate transaminase and one or more glutarate or Succinate semialdehyde reductase encoding genes. Particularly suitable hosts have the ability to overproduce lysine and are resistant to toxic lysine analogs, like S-(2-aminoethyl) cysteine. Preferably, the organism has a reducedor no glutarate semialdehyde dehydrogenase activity. ([Art. #ARTNUM](#article-26543-2882792339)) This [Figure](#image-1867) is a schematic diagram showing biochemical pathways to 5-hydroxyvalerate containing polyhydroxy alkanoate polymers, and 5-carbon chemicals such as 5-aminopentanoate (5-APO), glutarate, 8-valerolactone (DVL) and 1.5 pentanediol. Also shown are competing metabolic pathways that may have to be removed or the activities reduced (as indicated by a cross (X)) to achieve optimal carbon flux to the desired products listed above). ([Art. #ARTNUM](#article-26543-US9090898B2)) **Requirements:** * Purity of the initial component (ex: furfural): N.C. * Complexity (# of steps): 6 steps * Reaction medium: Recombinant host