5-(Chloromethyl)Furfural as a Potential Source for Continuous Hydrogenation of 5-(Hydroxymethyl)Furfural to 2,5-Bis(Hydroxymethyl)Furan.

Invited for this month's cover is the group of Prof. Young-Woong Suh at Hanyang University, Republic of Korea. The cover picture depicts the conceptual design of plastic manufacture starting from 5-(chloromethyl)furfural (CMF) generated from raw biomass (rice straw in the picture). The processing is to hydrolyze the CMF to 5-(hydroxymethyl)furfural (HMF) in aqueous medium, followed by catalytic hydrogenation into 2,5-bis(hydroxymethyl)furan (BHMF). The BHMF can be used as a monomer for plastics including polyurethanes, epoxy resins, and polyesters. More information can be found in the Research Article by Y.-W. Suh and co-workers.