Furfural is an organic compound with the formula C4H3OCHO. It is a colorless liquid, although commercial samples are often brown. It has an aldehyde group attached to the 2-position of furan. It is a product of the dehydration of sugars, as occurs in a variety of agricultural byproducts, including corncobs, oat, wheat bran, and sawdust. The name furfural comes from the Latin word furfur, meaning bran, referring to its usual source. Furfural is derived only from dried biomass. In addition to ethanol, acetic acid, and sugar, furfural is one of the oldest known organic chemicals available readily purified from natural precursors.
HINT:
In this Dossier
Furfural in the context of Pentosan
Pentosans are polymers composed of pentoses. In contrast to cellulose, which is composed of hexose (glucose) monomers, pentosans are derived from five-carbon sugars such as xylose. Pentosan-rich biomass is the precursor to furfural.
The pentosan content has been determined for many natural materials:
View the full Wikipedia page for Pentosan