Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 22, 2025

Methods for the Self-integration of Megamolecular Biopolymers on the Drying Air-LC Interface
Published on: April 7, 2017
Rapid, selective, and room temperature dissolution of crystalline xylan by a hydrotrope
Qiaoling Liu1, Rui Tian1, Ziwen Lv1
1Beijing Key Laboratory of Lignocellulosic Chemistry, Engineering Research Center of Forestry Biomass Materials and Energy, Ministry of Education, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China.
Abstract:
Selective dissolution of industrial biowaste is of significant importance for the valorization of biomass. Especially, fractionation of polysaccharides with similar structures is more challenging. Herein, a new kind of cationic hydrotrope, tetraethylammonium hydroxide (TEAH), has been developed for rapid, efficient, and selective dissolution of industrial biowastes-xylan type hemicelluloses from viscose fiber mills. When the concentration of TEAH is 15 wt%, the solubility of industrial crystalline xylan reaches to 13.39 wt% at room temperature. Crystalline or amorphous xylan can be regenerated by adding water or ethanol, with 57.98 % and 95.45 % yields, respectively. Additionally, we showcase hemicelluloses were near-completely extracted from holocellulose without degrading cellulose under ambient temperature by simply adjusting the concentration of TEAH, demonstrating the advantage of the hydrotropic feature. This hydrotrope solvent system features selective, rapid, and room temperature dissolution polysaccharides, which will shed new light in technological applications of the industrial spinning or biorefining processes.
More Related Videos
12:38Crystallization of Proteins on Chip by Microdialysis for In Situ X-ray Diffraction Studies
Published on: April 11, 2021
11:49Sequencing of Plant Wall Heteroxylans Using Enzymic, Chemical Methylation and Physical Mass Spectrometry, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Techniques
Published on: March 24, 2016
Related Concept Videos
Hydrolysis
Hydrolysis is a chemical reaction in which the addition of water breaks down a polymer into its simpler monomer units. For example, peptides break into amino acids, carbohydrates into simple sugars, and DNA into nucleotides. Enzymes often facilitate these processes.
Hydrolysis Reverses Dehydration Synthesis
Complex carbohydrates can be broken down by breaking the bonds between individual sugar units. The reaction breaks a glycosidic bond as water is added to the compound. The...
Factors Affecting Dissolution: Polymorphism, Amorphism and Pseudopolymorphism
Some polymorphic crystals possess lower aqueous solubility than their amorphous counterparts, leading to incomplete absorption. For instance, the oral suspension of Chloramphenicol, which...
Theories of Dissolution: Diffusion Layer Model
This process starts with a thin layer, saturated with the drug, forming at the interface between the solid and liquid. The solute then diffuses from this layer into the main solution. The Noyes-Whitney equation suggests that the rate of dissolution relies on the diffusion...
Aqueous Solutions and Heats of Hydration
When ionic compounds dissolve in water, the ions in the solid separate and disperse uniformly throughout the solution because water molecules surround and solvate the ions, reducing the strong electrostatic forces between them. This process...
Factors Affecting Dissolution: Particle Size and Effective Surface Area
Recrystallization: Solid–Solution Equilibria