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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Madison, Wisconsin » U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #80768
Title: DERIVATIZATION FOLLOWED BY REDUCTIVE CLEAVAGE (DFRC METHOD), A NEW METHOD FOR LIGNIN ANALYSIS. PROTOCOL FOR ANALYSIS OF DFRC MONOMERS

Author
item LU, FACHUANG - UNIV OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
item Ralph, John

Submitted to: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/28/1997
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: A major component in all plants, lignin is a polymer that limits digestion of plants by animals, and is what must be removed from wood to make paper. There are many analytical methods for lignin but no chemical method is as valuable as a technique called thioacidolysis, developed in France. However, thioacidolysis uses extraordinarily noxious chemicals that make the method difficult to carry out even in a modern lab environment. We hav developed a method that gives the same type of analytical data as thioacidolysis, but is much less noxious. Furthermore, the conditions and the chemistry are much simpler and more selective and give higher yields of the products that are analyzed. The new method has been coined the "DFRC" method (for Derivatization Followed by Reductive Cleavage, but also identifying the Dairy Forage Research Center where it was developed). The DFRC method cleanly degrades lignins (even in whole plant materials) to simple analyzable compounds that give a tremendous insight into the structural details of the original lignin. Scientists will use this technique in a wide variety of studies ranging from optimization of pulping processes in pulp mills to the identification of how a plant responds to various genetic mutations that are forced on it. Such studies are at the heart of efforts to improve agricultural sustainability and maximize our wood resources.

Technical Abstract: A new method for selective and efficient cleavage of arylglycerol-beta-aryl (beta-O-4) ether linkages in lignins is introduced. The term "DFRC" relates to the reactions involved, Derivatization Followed by Reductive Cleavage. Derivatization, accompanied by cell wall solubilization, is accomplished with acetyl bromide (AcBr); reductive cleavage of resulting b- -bromoethers utilizes zinc in an acidic medium. Following acetylation, degradation monomers (4-acetoxycinnamyl acetates) are quantified by GC, providing data analogous to those from analytical thioacidolysis.