Interactions between hemicelluloses and lignin are of fundamental importance for understanding the molecular architecture of plant cell walls. In this work, smooth and uniform lignin thin films were prepared by spincoating kraft lignin (KL), organosolv lignin (OL) and milled wood lignin (MWL) from aqueous ammonia solutions onto gold substrates, and the physical interactions between various hemicelluloses and these model lignin thin films were investigated via a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) and surface plasmon resonance (SPR). QCM-D data showed that xyloglucan (from tamarind seeds) and glucomannan (from konjac) irreversibly adsorbed onto the lignin surfaces, galactomannan (from carob) reversibly adsorbed onto the lignin surfaces, and glucuronoarabinoxylan (from spruce) and arabinoxylan (from wheat) showed weak interactions with the lignin surfaces. Adsorption isotherms for xyloglucan onto the model lignin surfaces obtained from QCM-D and SPR indicated that xyloglucan had a stronger affinity for KL and OL surfaces than MWL surfaces, and that xyloglucan layers adsorbed onto different lignin surfaces had similar percentages of coupled water.

Adsorption of hemicelluloses onto model lignin surfaces

247th National Meeting (2014)

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