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

本研究的目的是开发新的方法来使木材中的木质素增值。木质素是木材的三种主要成分之一，但它通常被视为废物并作为低级燃料燃烧。木质素一直被认为是化石燃料的有前途的替代品，因为它是地球上最丰富的芳香族生物聚合物。然而，其复杂的和不稳定的结构限制了其开发。近年来，纳米颗粒作为木质素降解的可回收和环境友好的催化剂受到了广泛关注。在我们的工作中，我们把注意力集中在开发新的方法，使木质素的价值朝着一个更可持续的社会。在我们的工作中，我们合成了氧化铁纳米粒子，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催化剂的微波辅助氧化醇。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量化复杂反应基质中的木质素。一种新的传感器已经开发，利用木质素结合肽的木质素和表面等离子体共振作为传感机制。此外，我们开发了一个简单的一锅微波辅助合成的荧光咪唑衍生物的广泛的图书馆直接从木粉通过原位转化的中间体的木质素解聚反应。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.