9Bio-derived furans such as 2-furfural (furfural), 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfual (5-HMF) and 10 5-methyl-2-furfural (5-MF) was successfully transformed to ketoacid, levulinic acid 11 (LA), and diketones, 1-hydroxyhexane-2,5-dione (1-HHD), 3-hydroxyhexane-2,5-dione 12 (3-HHD) and hexane-2,5-dione (HD), at moderate reaction conditions using water 13 soluble and recyclable 8-aminoquinoline coordinated arene-ruthenium(II) complexes. At 14 the optimized condition using 1 mol % catalyst in the presence of 12 equivalent formic 15 acid at 80 ~ 100 °C, complete conversion of furfural to LA with high selectivity was 16 achieved. Several experiments along with 1 H NMR spectral studies are described which 17 provide more insights into the mechanism of the transformation of furans to open ring 18 components. Experiment performed using structural analogues of active catalyst inferred 19 a structural-activity relationship for the observed superior catalytic activity of the 8-20 aminoquinoline coordinated arene-ruthenium(II) complex. Furthermore, due to high 21 aqueous solubility of the studied complexes, high recyclability, up to 4 catalytic runs, 22 was achieved without any significant loss of activity. Molecular identities of the studied 23 8-aminoquinoline coordinated arene-ruthenium(II) complex was also confirmed by 24 single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies. Development of new methodologies and catalysts for the transformation of biomass and 2 biomass derived compounds into biofuel components are highly desirable to reduce the 3 global dependence on the fossil fuel resources. Moreover, these transformations of 4 biomass can also produce several value added chemicals for potential applications in 5 chemical industries. However, direct usage of biomass is unsuitable so far. 1-7 In this 6 regard, furans, an important feedstock of biomass obtained by selective dehydration of 7 hexose and pentose sugar, are considered as an important resource for the production of 8 bio-based chemicals. 8-19 Furan derivatives such as 5-HMF, furfural and 5-MF are being 9 used as valuable C5/C6 resources for the synthesis of value added chemicals and biofuel 10 components based on LA, succinic acid, ketones, 1,6-hexanediol, cyclopentanone, adipic 11 acid, caprolactam, caprolactone, furoic acid and so on. 20-36 Moreover, C5-C9 alkane can 12 also be produced by the hydrolytic ring opening and complete hydrogenation of furans 13 and its aldol adducts. 36-38 14 Ketoacids and diketones have been successfully used to produce several value 15 added fine chemicals such as esters, alcohols, lactones, amines and cycloketones. 39-41 16 According to US-DOE, LA (ketoacid) has been identified as one of the 12 important 17 target chemicals in their biomass program. 41 Due to the presence of carbonyl group, 18 carboxylic group and α-H in LA, various sorts of compounds can be synthesized by 19 different type of reactions like halogenation, esterification, hydrogenation, condensation 20 etc. that can be used in drugs, agriculture, food, cosmetics and spice industry (...