In the US, the Department of Energy has continuously identified candidate base molecules for production from biomass. Here are two related reads:
http://www.biofuelsdigest.com/bdigest/2015/04/30/the-does-12-top-biobased-molecules-what-became-of-them/
Technical Report
NREL/TP-5100-65509
What chemicals or base molecules are of interest to a larger research community and why?