A biopolymer containing metal complex, silica-supported alginic acid-amino acid (L-alanine, L-glutamic acid, L-serine or L-lysine)-Pt complex, SiO2-AA-aa-Pt (SiO2-AA-ala-Pt, SiO2-AA-glu-Pt, SiO2-AA-ser-Pt, SiO2-AA-lys-Pt) has been prepared and found to be able to catalyze the asymmetric hydrogenation of furfuryl alcohol to give (S)(+)-tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol at 30 degreesC and under 1 atmH(2). Among of them, SiO2-AA-glu-Pt complex catalyst is most effective for this asymmetric reaction and 84.4% product yield and 98.3% ee optical yield can be obtained, respectively. This catalyst can be reused several times without large change in the optical catalytic activity. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.