Unleashing biocatalysis/chemical catalysis synergies for efficient biomass conversion.

The goal of incorporating renewable carbon into the fuel and chemical enterprise will most likely be successful when combined systems of biocatalysts and chemical catalysts are exploited. Significant efforts in the biocatalytic release of sugars from biomass are being pursued for subsequent use in fermentation. Two recent papers demonstrate an alternative approach to converting these sugars to a liquid fuel by using chemical catalysts.