Plastic that grows on trees

Scientists just took a giant step closer to the bio-refinery that they have directly converted sugars ubiquitous in nature to an alternative source for those products that make oil so valuable, with very little of the residual impurities that have made the quest so daunting.

They have converted glucose directly in high yields to a primary building block for fuel and polyesters. That building block is called HMF, which stands for hydroxymethylfurfural. It is a chemical derived from carbohydrates such as glucose and fructose and is viewed as a promising surrogate for petroleum-based chemicals.

Source: physorg.comAdded: 14 September 2007