Heteropoly acids as efficient acid catalysts in the one-step conversion of cellulose to sugar alcohols

Cellulose and even spruce can be converted efficiently into valuable platform chemicals via combined hydrolysis and hydrogenation in the aqueous phase. Thereby, heteropoly acids together with supported ruthenium catalysts show not only high activity but also remarkable selectivity to sugar alcohols reaching up to 81% yield of C(4) to C(6) sugar alcohols in only 7 h at 160 degrees C.