A perspective on catalytic production of olefinic compounds from biomass

Chemical syntheses of industrially important olefins and unsaturated oxygenates from biomass are reviewed. Their syntheses are discussed in two aspects: common key reactions and target molecules grouped by the carbon number. Among common key reactions, dehydration of alcohols over acid–base bifunctional solid catalysts, ring-opening dehydration of tetrahydrofurans over acid catalysts, and the deoxydehydration reaction of vicinal diols are especially important. Further, catalyst development is still necessary for all these reactions. In the discussion of each target molecule, the synthesis methods are compared by considering the balance between current demand and the amount of biomass resources. Promising methods have been already developed or proposed for compounds with C4 and more and for C3 unsaturated oxygenates.