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Updated: Apr 26, 2026

Extraction of Lignin with High β-O-4 Content by Mild Ethanol Extraction and Its Effect on the Depolymerization Yield
Published on: January 7, 2019
Aromatic-hydroxyl interaction of an alpha-aryl ether lignin model-compound on SBA-15, present at pyrolysis
M V Kandziolka1, M K Kidder, L Gill
1Chemical Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA. savaraa@ornl.gov.
Abstract:
An aromatic alpha-aryl ether compound (a benzyl phenyl ether analogue) was covalently grafted to mesoporous silica SBA-15, to create BPEa-SBA-15. The BPEa-SBA-15 was subjected to successive heating cycles up to 600 °C, with in situ monitoring by DRIFTS. It was found that the toluene moiety coordinates to SBA-15 surface silanol hydroxyl groups via an aromatic-hydroxyl interaction. This interaction is evidenced by a red-shift of the aromatic C-H stretches, as well as a red-shift and broadening of the surface hydroxyl O-H stretches, which are features characteristic of a hydrogen bond. These features remain present during heating until ∼400 °C whereupon the ether linkage of BPEa-SBA-15 is cleaved, accompanied by loss of the toluene moiety.
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