Nanoparticles are regarded as a major step forward to achieving the miniaturisation and nanoscaling effects and properties that have been utilised by nature for millions of years. The chemist is no longer observing and describing the behaviour of matter but is now able to manipulate and produce new types of materials with specific desired physicochemical characteristics. Such materials are receiving extensive attention across a broad range of research disciplines. The fusion between nanoparticle and nanoporous materials technology represents one of the most interesting of these rapidly expanding areas. The harnessing of nanoscale activity and selectivity, potentially provides extremely efficient catalytic materials for the production of commodity chemicals, and energy needed for a future sustainable society. In this tutorial review, we present an introduction to the field of supported metal nanoparticles (SMNPs) on porous materials, focusing on their preparation and applications in different areas.

Mesoporous metal-organic frameworks: The diffusion limitations on gas storage and catalytic reaction of microporous materials can often be overcome if they are incorporated into a mesoporous structure with much larger pores. Shen et al. grew ordered arrays of microcrystals of the ZIF-8 metal-organic framework, in which zinc ions are bridged by 2-methylimidazole linkers, inside a porous polystyrene template. These materials showed higher reaction rates for the Knoevenagel reaction between benzaldehydes and malononitriles and better catalyst recyclability. Science , this issue p. 206

Increasing demand for fuels and chemicals, driven by factors including over-population, the threat of global warming and the scarcity of fossil resources, strains our resource system and necessitates the development of sustainable and innovative strategies for the chemical industry. Our society is currently experiencing constraints imposed by our resource system, which drives industry to increase its overall efficiency by improving existing processes or finding new uses for waste. Food supply chain waste emerged as a resource with a significant potential to be employed as a raw material for the production of fuels and chemicals given the abundant volumes globally generated, its contained diversity of functionalised chemical components and the opportunity to be utilised for higher value applications. The present manuscript is aimed to provide a general overview of the current and most innovative uses of food supply chain waste, providing a range of worldwide case-studies from around the globe. These studies will focus on examples illustrating the use of citrus peel, waste cooking oil and cashew shell nut liquid in countries such as China, the UK, Tanzania, Spain, Greece or Morocco. This work emphasises 2^nd generation food waste valorisation and re-use strategies for the production of higher value and marketable products rather than conventional food waste processing (incineration for energy recovery, feed or composting) while highlighting issues linked to the use of food waste as a sustainable raw material. The influence of food regulations on food supply chain waste valorisation will also be addressed as well as our society's behavior towards food supply chain waste. “There was no ways of dealing with it that have not been known for thousands of years. These ways are essentially four: dumping it, burning it, converting it into something that can be used again, and minimizing the volume of material goods – future garbage – that is produced in the first place.” William Rathje on waste (1945–2012) – Director of the Tucson Garbage project.

Photocatalysis is a green technology which converts abundantly available photonic energy into useful chemical energy.

Furans represent one of the most important classes of intermediates in the conversion of non-edible lignocellulosic biomass into bio-based chemicals and fuels. At present, bio-furan derivatives are generally obtained from cellulose and hemicellulose fractions of biomass via the acid-catalyzed dehydration of their relative C6–C5 sugars and then converted into a wide range of products. Furfural (FUR) and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) are surely the most used furan-based feedstocks since their chemical structure allows the preparation of various high-value-added chemicals. Among several well-established catalytic approaches, hydrogenation and oxygenation processes have been efficiently adopted for upgrading furans; however, harsh reaction conditions are generally required. In this review, we aim to discuss the conversion of biomass derived FUR and HMF through unconventional (transfer hydrogenation, photocatalytic and electrocatalytic) catalytic processes promoted by heterogeneous catalytic systems. The reaction conditions adopted, the chemical nature and the physico-chemical properties of the most employed heterogeneous systems in enhancing the catalytic activity and in driving the selectivity to desired products are presented and compared. At the same time, the latest results in the production of FUR and HMF through novel environmental friendly processes starting from lignocellulose as well as from wastes and by-products obtained in the processing of biomass are also overviewed.