Congratulations to Robert Gottlieb on his recent publication in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Reaction Chemistry & Engineering journal. This is collaborative work with Prof. Valla’s lab on the study of possible reaction pathways for hydrodeoxygenation of bio-oil compounds using different catalysts and solvents. Our contribution used mathematical optimization and complete reaction pathway models together with experimental data to identify the most likely reaction pathways. The paper can be found here: https://doi.org/10.1039/D5RE00179J