Search

Original lignin and hemicelluloses were sequentially extracted with high yield/purity, using acidic dioxane/water solution and dimethyl sulfoxide, from ball-milled wheat straw. The acidic dioxane lignin fraction is distinguished by high beta-O-4' structures and by low amounts of condensed units (beta-5', 5-5', and beta-1'). Hemicelluloses contain arabinoxylans as the major polysaccharides, which are substituted by alpha-l-arabinofuranose, 4-O-methylglucuronic acid, acetyl group (DS = 0.1), and xylose at O-3 and/or O-2 of xylans. It was found that arabinoxylans form cross-links with lignins through ferulates via ether bonds, glucuronic acid via ester bonds, and arbinose/xylose via both ether and glycosidic bonds, respectively, in the cell walls of wheat straw. Diferulates are also incorporated into cross-links between lignin and hemicelluloses as well as lignification of wheat straw cell walls. The guaiacyl unit is considered to be a significant condensed structural constructor in extracted lignin and a connector between lignin and carbohydrates.

Sequential treatments of dewaxed bagasse with distilled water, 0.5 M NaOH, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, and 3.0% H(2)O(2) at pH 11.5, and 2 M NaOH at 55 degrees C for 2 h solubilized 2.8, 52.5, 14.9, 3.3, 5.5, 5.0, 2.8, and 2.2% of the original lignin, respectively. The eight isolated lignin fractions were subjected to a comprehensive structural characterization by UV, FT-IR, and (1)H and (13)C NMR spectroscopies and thermal analysis. The nitrobenzene oxidation method was also applied to the in situ lignins. The seven lignin fractions, isolated successively with alkali and alkaline peroxide, were all SGH-type lignins, with a small amount of esterified p-coumaric acid and mainly etherified ferulic acid. No significant differences were found in the weight-average molecular weights (1680-2220 g/mol) of the seven alkali and alkaline peroxide dissolved lignins. However, the first four lignin fractions, isolated with 0.5 M NaOH and 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5% H(2)O(2) at pH 11.5, were rich in syringyl units and contained large amounts of noncondensed ether structures, whereas the last three lignin fractions, isolated sequentially with 2.0 and 3.0% H(2)O(2) at pH 11.5 and 2 M NaOH at 55 degrees C for 2 h, had a higher degree on condensation and were rich in guaiacyl lignins.

Total geometry optimization and computation of the ab initio force fields for cyclopropene and six of its fluoro derivatives are carried out at the HF/6-311G* level. The HF/6-311G*//HF/6-311G* force field of cyclopropene is scaled using the empirical scale factors determined only from the experimental vibrational frequencies of the light isotopic species of cyclopropene. The scaled force field obtained is used to calculate the vibrational frequencies for seven deutero analogues of cyclopropene and six of its fluoro derivatives. The scale factors for the >CF2 moiety of 3,3-difluorocyclopropene are refined using the experimental vibrational frequencies of its light isotopic species. The refined set of scale factors is transferred to the HF/6-311G*//HF/6-311G* force field of 1,2,3,3-tetrafluorocyclopropene. The experimental vibrational frequencies of this molecule are used to refine the scale factors for the C−F moieties. The scale factors obtained, together with the scale factors for cyclopropene, are used ...