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Revisiting alkaline nitrobenzene oxidation: quantitative evaluation of biphenyl structures in cedar wood lignin (Cryptomeria japonica) by a modified nitrobenzene oxidation method

  • Akari Tamai , Haruka Goto , Takuya Akiyama EMAIL logo and Yuji Matsumoto
Published/Copyright: December 6, 2014
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Abstract

A modified alkaline nitrobenzene oxidation (NBO) method was developed to enable the analysis of the biphenyl structures of cedar wood lignin. The most essential point of the process is a modified work-up process in pyridine and a prolonged gas chromatography analysis of the silylated products. By applying this mean to cedar wood meal, a novel biphenyl product, dehydrovanillin-vanillic acid (1-carboxy-1′-formyl-4,4′-dihydroxy-3,3′-dimethoxy-5,5′-biphenyl), was detected together with known products, dehydrodivanillin and dehydrodivanillic acid. The highest total yield of biphenyl products was detected when NBO was carried out for 2–4 h at 170°C. The work-up procedure was slightly modified so that the biphenyl products can be quantified. The NBO conversion rates of biphenyl linkages of lignin were also examined with a biphenyl-type lignin model compound, and this gave rise to 75% biphenyl-type NBO degradation products. Under the same condition, the total yield of vanillin and vanillic acid (VA) from a non-condensed-type β-O-4 model compound was 89%. Because the latter did not exhibit any peak of the biphenyl products, it can be concluded that all the biphenyl products obtained by NBO (0.17 mmol g-1) were from the lignin of the native wood. It was calculated that at least 6.7 of 100 phenylpropanoid units of cedar lignin were involved in biphenyl structures even if the NBO conversion rate was not taken into consideration. The synthesis and analytical data of 11 lignin model compounds is described.


Corresponding author: Takuya Akiyama, Wood Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Biomaterial Sciences, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan, e-mail: ; and Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), PRESTO, Kawaguchi, Saitama 332-0012, Japan

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding from the Japan Science and Technology Agency, PRESTO. Funding: Japan Science and Technology Agency (Grant/Award Number: ‘PRESTO’).

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Received: 2014-5-21
Accepted: 2014-11-4
Published Online: 2014-12-6
Published in Print: 2015-10-1

©2015 by De Gruyter

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