Biochemical composite synthesized by stepwise crosslinking: An efficient platform for one-pot biomass conversion

•Reusable catalysis was achieved by applying the present biochemical composite.•One-pot biomass conversion proceeded under moderate conditions.•Non-food biomass can be efficiently transformed into sorbitol in one pot.

This paper describes the development of a new bifunctional catalyst system that integrates enzyme and chemical material into a biochemical composite through a stepwise crosslinking approach. The as-prepared biochemical composite not only allows “one-pot” biomass conversion via sequential enzyme-catalyzed hydrolysis of biomass materials to glucose and metal-catalyzed hydrogenation of glucose to sorbitol, but also enables reusability of the catalyst. This design concept facilitates access to fuels and chemicals from the biomass-derived sorbitol and will attract more attention in the foreseeable future.

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