Increasing demand of green chemical products calls upon the exploration of sustainable and renewable carbon resources beyond fossil-based materials. As such, biomass valorization has attracted increasing attention because biomass is the most widely available and sustainable carbon source. Among those biomass-derived platform chemicals, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) has long been regarded as an attractive candidate for the production of numerous value-added products. Nevertheless, the poor stability and difficult separation/purification of HMF significantly inhibit its large-scale application. Recently, we developed a one-pot two-step process for the direct production of two biopolymer precursors, 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) and 2,5-bis(hydroxylmethyl)furan (BHMF), from either fructose or glucose, bypassing the isolation of HMF. FDCA and BHMF are much easier to be separated and purified from the reaction mixture than HMF and they both can replace petroleum-based counterparts in the production of many industrially important polymers. In contrast to HMF, another biomass-derived furanics molecule, furfural, has enjoyed large-scale production in industry. Because of the high value of pharmaceutical products, it is a very attractive while underexplored direction to synthesize heterocyclic moieties pertaining to biologically active molecules from biomass-based starting compounds, such as furfural. By taking advantage of photo-induced polymerization of a bipyridyl ligand, we have demonstrated the facile preparation of a heterogenized nickel electrocatalyst, which exhibited superior effectiveness in driving the electrocatalytic production of hydropyranones from furfuryl alcohols, which can be readily produced from furfural. The construction of pyranone units is critical but difficult to achieve for a number of complex molecules bearing medicinal applications. Overall, the above two strategies in producing valuable chemicals, either bypassing the HMF separation/purification step or utilizing largely-produced furanics, demonstrate the great promise of electrochemistry in biomass valorization.