Terrestrial plants contain ~70% hemicellulose and cellulose that are a significant renewable bioresource with potential as an alternative to petroleum feedstock for carbon-based fuels. The efficient and selective deconstruction of carbohydrates to their basic components, ​carbon monoxideand ​hydrogen, so called synthesis gas, is an important key step towards the realization of this potential, because the formation of liquid hydrocarbon fuels from synthesis gas are known technologies. Here we show that by using a polyoxometalate as an electron transfer–oxygen transfer catalyst, ​carbon monoxide is formed by cleavage of all the carbon–carbon bonds through dehydration of initially formed ​formic acid. In this oxidation–reduction reaction, the hydrogen atoms are stored on the polyoxometalate as protons and electrons, and can be electrochemically released from the polyoxometalate as ​hydrogen. Together, synthesis gas is formed. In a hydrogen economy scenario, this method can also be used to convert ​carbon monoxide to ​hydrogen.

http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/140801/ncomms5621/full/ncomms5621.html

Nature Communications 5, Article number: 4621 doi:10.1038/ncomms5621