Research on furfural and 5-(hydroxymethyl)furfural (HMF) concerns all fields of chemistry: catalysis, mechanistic studies, synthetic organic chemistry, materials sciences, chemical engineering. The purpose of this account is, by picking a selection of very recent literature, to show the vitality of the field and to illustrate how transdisciplinar approaches can help overcoming the strong overlap between catalysts, solvent and process issues. It highlights the necessity to encourage researches in two main directions, one being the optimization of the access to industrially relevant targets, and the second being the commitment of synthetic organic chemist to explorative studies on new reactions and new architectures.

糠醛和5-（羟甲基）糠醛（HMF）的研究涉及化学的所有领域：催化，机理研究，合成有机化学，材料科学，化学工程。该说明的目的是通过选择一些近期文献来显示该领域的生命力，并说明跨学科方法如何帮助克服催化剂，溶剂和工艺问题之间的强烈重叠。它强调了鼓励在两个主要方向上进行研究的必要性，一是优化与工业相关目标的途径，其二是合成有机化学家致力于对新反应和新结构进行探索性研究的承诺。