LAUSR

Significance Sugars are carbon-neutral alternatives to fossil resources for the sustainable production of fuels and chemicals. Their direct conversion is challenged by their structural complexities of different chiralities, carbon numbers, and types of ketoses/aldoses and by their tedious purification. WO3-catalyzed cracking of sugars provides a viable strategy to convert them, irrespective of their purities and structures, primarily to C2,3 oxygenate intermediates (e.g., glycolaldehyde) that can be used as building blocks, resembling the strategy in the current petrochemical industry, to synthesize various chemicals. This work unveils the mechanism for selective cleavage of β-C-C bonds of sugar on WO3, providing insights into sugar chemistry and a rationale for the design of catalysts and reaction pathways for the production of chemicals from sugar-based biomass.