Environmental effects on the lignin model monomer, vanillyl alcohol, studied by Raman spectroscopy

Structural analysis of plant materials, i.e., lignin, cellulose, hemicellulose, etc., supports the growing interest of their uses, e.g., as sources for biofuels or materials. Lignin is a main polymer formed from three phenolic presursors, containing none, one, or two OMe groups, i.e., H, G, and S units, respectively. Raman spectroscopy gives valuable knowledge on lignin and has a large potential for further developments. Thus in the present work we show how the use of electronic structure theory can support the study of environmental effects on lignin Raman bands. Raman spectra of the lignin model monomer, vanillyl alcohol (G type), dissolved in different solvents were compared to investigate such effects on the Raman band shapes and positions. Density functional theory combined with the polarizable continuum model were applied to assign the observed bands and tested for prediction accuracy. Two ring deformation modes at ∼1600 cm(-1) showed strong dependency on solvent ability to act as hydrogen bond donor, and this has to be considered in addition to substitutional effects on these modes.