A clean, facile, economical, and environmental friendly method for converting fructose into 5-hydroymethylfurfural (HMF) has been developed, in the presence of a solid heteropolyacid Cs(2.5)H(0.5)PW(12)O(40) catalyst in a biphasic system. A 5-HMF yield of 74.0% and a higher selectivity of 94.7% were obtained in 60 min at 388 K. More importance is that this catalyst is tolerant to high concentration feedstocks (50 wt.% fructose) and it can be recycled. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.