BACKGROUND 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is an important platform chemical that can be generated from biomass using catalysts and used for the production of biofuels and biobased polymers. RESULTS In this study, a novel magnetically-recoverable catalyst (Fe3O4@SiO2@TiO2-HPW) was synthesized for the first time by immobilizing H3PW12O40 (HPW) on the surfaces of SiO2 and TiO2-coated Fe3O4 nanoparticles. A number of techniques, including inductively coupled plasma (ICP) spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and nitrogen (N-2) adsorption-desorption analysis, were used to characterize the catalyst. Results showed that the catalyst had a porous structure and the Keggin structure of HPW on the surface of the catalyst was well-preserved. The catalyst was then used for the syntheses of HMF from fructose and inulin using dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as a solvent, and the influences of reaction temperature and reaction time were investigated. Results showed that HMF yields obtained from fructose and inulin reached 83% and 54%, respectively. After reaction, the catalyst could be easily separated from reaction mixture using an external magnet, and the catalytic activity of the catalyst was well-preserved after more than five reuses. CONCLUSION This magnetically-recoverable catalyst is efficient not only for the syntheses of HMF from fructose and inulin, but also potentially for the one-step production of HMF from inulin-containing biomass, and its magnetic property may overcome the difficulty of catalyst separation from the insoluble biomass residues. (c) 2019 Society of Chemical Industry