Described herein are single step methods of making various classes of alkylamine derivatives of furan and tetrahydrofuran by simultaneous contact of a sugar with H2, an acid catalyst and hydrogenation catalyst in the presence of an alkylamide solvent. The hydrogenation catalyst is a heterogeneous catalyst comprising a metal selected from the group consisting of Pt, Pd, and nickel. The acid catalysts may be homogeneous mineral acid or a heterogeneous acid catalyst on substrate. In a preferred practice the two catalysts are provided on a common heterogeneous bifunctional support. Using similar combinations of acid and hydrogenation catalysts, there is also described single step methods for making furandimethanol by simultaneously contacting a hexose with the two separate catalysts in the presence of H2 in an aprotic solvent, such as dimethylformamide. With the same catalyst system and similar reaction conditions, 2, 5 furan dialkylethers can also be made in a single step when the solvent includes an ROH alcohol.