Development of Lignin-Recognizing Magnetic Nanoparticle Catalysts for Valorization of Wood Biomass

这项研究的目的是开发新的方法来评价木材中的木质素。木质素是木材的三种主要成分之一，但它通常被认为是废物，作为低品位燃料燃烧。木质素是地球上含量最丰富的芳香族生物聚合物，长期以来一直被认为是一种有前途的化石燃料替代品。然而，其复杂而顽固的结构限制了其开发。纳米颗粒作为一种可回收、环境友好的木质素降解催化剂，近年来受到了广泛的关注。在我们的工作中，我们专注于开发木质素价态的新方法，以实现更可持续的社会。在我们的工作中，我们合成了纳米氧化铁，并将其应用于木质素单体模型的氧化。这些纳米粒子被发现是良好的可回收的催化剂，用于微波辅助醇类的氧化。我们研究的另一个重要目标是设计一种新的方法来识别和定量复杂反应基质中的木质素。开发了一种新型的传感器，它利用木质素结合肽来固定木质素，并利用表面等离子体共振作为传感机制。此外，我们还开发了一种简便的一锅法微波辅助直接从木粉中直接转化木质素解聚反应的中间产物来合成广泛的荧光咪唑衍生物。这是发展完全木质素来源的化学工业的第一步。

The purpose of the research was to develop new methodologies to valorize lignin in wood. Lignin is one of the three main components of wood, but it is often considered as waste and burned as low-grade fuel. Lignin has long been considered a promising alternative for fossil fuel since it is the most abundant aromatic biopolymer on earth. Nevertheless, its complex and recalcitrant structure has limited its exploitation. Nanoparticles have recently gained much attention as recyclable and environmentally friendly catalysts for the degradation of lignin. In our work, we focused our attention on the development of new methods for the valorization of lignin towards a more sustainable society.In our work, we synthesized iron oxide nanoparticles and applied them for the oxidation of lignin monomer models. These nanoparticles were found to be good recyclable catalysts for the microwave-assisted oxidation of alcohols. Another important goal of our research was to devise a new way to recognize and quantify lignin in a complex reaction matrix. A new sensor has been developed that takes advantage of a lignin-binding peptide to immobilize lignin and of surface-plasmon resonance as the sensing mechanism. Furthermore, we developed a facile one-pot microwave-assisted synthesis of a wide library of fluorescent imidazole derivatives directly from wood powder by in situ conversion of the intermediates of the lignin depolymerization reaction. This is the first step for the development of a fully lignin-sourced chemical industry.