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| The fractionation of wood cell wall components was achieved by the application of the LiCl/DMSO solvent system developed in our previous study. Various soluble and insoluble fractions were prepared from beech milled wood by extractions with DMSO containing different amounts of lithium chloride (LiCl) for the study of lignin-carbohydrate complex (LCC). Nitrobenzene oxidation (NO) analyses demonstrated that the lignin in the soluble fractions always has lower yields of NO products consisting of syringaldehyde + syringic acid (Sy) and vanillin + vanillic acid (Va). The syringyl ratios, Sy/(Sy+Va), were also lower than in insoluble fractions. Accordingly, lignins with lower syringyl ratios are better soluble than those with higher syringyl ratios. The former is typical in primary wall and the latter in secondary wall. Solubilization of glucan is significantly dependent on the LiCl concentration in DMSO. In the absence of LiCl, only about 6% of glucan was found in the soluble fraction, but about 40% of lignin and xylan were solubilized. The additional 40% of lignin and xylan became soluble together with glucan solubilization increased at 3% LiCl concentration. However, a fraction amounting to 13% (based on the whole wood) is still remained as a residue under these conditions. Glucan solubilization could not be the reason for this observation as ball-milled cellulose is soluble in 3% LiCl/DMSO. Probably, strong interactions between lignin and carbohydrates prevent solubilization of this fraction, that has never been isolated and analyzed in previous studies. |
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| Keywords:wood solution, LiCl/DMSO, lignin, polysaccharide, lignin-carbohydrate complex (LCC). |
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