TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Components: The base is potassium t-butoxide.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Method: During step (ii), the reaction mixture is continuously or intermittently contacted with a solvent for hydroxymethylfurfural, where the solvent is immiscible with the ionic liquid, so as to extract the hydroxymethylfurfural into the solvent. The reaction mixture is contacted with a solvent for hydroxymethylfurfural after step (ii). The method (P1) involves generating the metal complex of the N-heterocyclic carbene. The step of generating the metal complex of N-heterocyclic carbene involves reacting a nitrogen heterocycle salt with a base in the presence of a salt of the metal; and removing a solvent in which the step of generating is conducted, where the removing is conducted after generating. The process is a continuous reaction. The metal complex of N-heterocyclic carbene is recycled following removal of the hydroxymethylfurfural from the reaction mixture. The ionic liquid is reused following removal of the hydroxymethylfurfural from the reaction mixture. The process (P2) involves separating the hydroxymethylfurfural from the reaction mixture prior to step (iii). Preferred Components: The saccharide comprises a monosaccharide (preferably fructose and/or glucose). The reaction mixture additionally comprises an ionic liquid. The metal complex of N-heterocyclic carbene is a metal complex of monomeric N-heterocyclic carbene (preferably metal complex of imidazol-2-ylidene or of an imidazolin-2-ylidine). The metal complex is selected from a tungsten complex, a titanium complex, a zirconium complex, a ruthenium complex and a mixture of any two types of complex (preferably tungsten complex of imidazol-2-ylidene or imidazolin-2-ylidine). EXAMPLE - 1,3-Bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazolium chloride (467 mg) was mixed with potassium t-butoxide (KOtBu) (123 mg) in anhydrous N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) (20 ml). The reaction mixture was allowed to stir for 1 hour at room temperature before tungsten hexachloride (WCl6) (397 mg) was added to the mixture, which was then heated to 8 degrees C and stirred for another 6 hour. The reaction mixture was cooled to room temperature and filtered. The green DMF solution was directly used as the catalyst stock solution. Alternatively, the catalyst solution was dried. The resulting green powder was washed with ether and tetrahydrofuran (THF), and dried under vacuum to give 1,3-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazolylidene-tungsten hexachloride (Ipr-WCl6) catalyst. In a typical reaction, fructose (100 mg) was dissolved in tetrahydrofuran (THF)-butyl-methyl imidazolium chloride (BMIMCl) (500 mg), and the tungsten salt catalyst (5 mol%) was added. The reaction mixture was heated to 50 degrees C for 3-6 hour. It was allowed to cool to room temperature before water (1 ml) was added. After work-up, hydroxymethylfurfural (5-(hydroxymethyl)-2-furaldehyde (HMF) was obtained.