Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 25, 2026

Pretreatment of Lignocellulosic Biomass with Low-cost Ionic Liquids
Published on: August 10, 2016
Cation-pi interactions as a mechanism in technical lignin adsorption to cationic surfaces
Karthik V Pillai1, Scott Renneckar
1Institute of Critical Technology and Applied Science, T. Brooks Forest Products Center, Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, USA.
Abstract:
The assembly of dissolved technical lignins in aqueous and organic medium has been studied at the solid-liquid interface. Adsorption of alkali lignin onto gold coated crystals treated with a cationic polymer was determined using a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring. Complete coverage of the cationic surface with alkali lignin occurred at low solution concentration, revealing a high affinity coefficient under both alkali and neutral conditions. With additional adsorption studies from organosolv lignin in organic solvent and spectroscopic analysis of mixtures of cationic polymer and alkali lignin, a noncovalent interaction between lignin's aromatic rings and the cation of the quaternary ammonium group was shown to exist. The work underscores how polyphenolic biopolymers can strongly interact with cations through noncovalent interactions to control molecular architecture.
Related Concept Videos
Metal-Ligand Bonds
In these complexes, transition metals form coordinate covalent bonds, a kind of Lewis acid-base interaction in which both of the electrons in the bond are contributed by a donor (Lewis base) to an electron acceptor (Lewis acid). The Lewis acid in...
Ion Exchange
Complexation Equilibria: Factors Influencing Stability of Complexes
Ion-Exchange Chromatography
Complexometric Titration: Ligands
Extraction: Advanced Methods

