Biomorphic magnesium oxide and magnesium oxide/carbon catalysts have been synthesized via an in situ transformation technique using rice grains as a template and carbon precursor. During preparation, MgO precursors are dispersed on the surface of rice grains with the aid of the rice-cooking process, and further transformed into solid bases upon calcination. Biomorphic MgO/carbon materials are formed when calcination is performed in a nitrogen atmosphere. These particles are spindle shaped catalysts with a circumference of several millimeters. Pyrolysis at higher temperature aids in the formation of porous structures, and the resulting MgO/carbon materials display high specific surface area (>260 m(2)/g) and more strongly basic sites. The presence of black carbon affects the catalytic behavior of MgO in the methylation of cyclopentadiene. These shaped MgO/carbon materials exhibit much higher catalytic performance than MgO at lower reaction temperatures. (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.