Methods of making reduced derivatives of hydroxymethyl furfural using metal catalysts are described. The derivatives may have tetrahydrofuran or furan nucleus with alkoxymethyl ether or ester moieties on the 5'carbon and methanol on the 2'carbon. Suitable metal catalyst include Raney nickel, a nickel catalyst with a zirconium promoter, a chromite catalyst with a barium, a palladium catalyst, such as palladium on carbon, or a ruthenium catalyst. Also provided are a new class of compounds, which are n-alkoxy hexane diols (i.e., 1,2 or 1,5 hexane diol ethers) and methods of making the same by reduction of furan or tetrahydrofuran derivatives.