The production of fuels and chemicals from renewable lignin feedstock can mitigate greenhouse gas emissions generated by fossil fuel processing. Most current lignin upgrading studies focused on breaking lignin into monomers. However, the carbon chain extension into high carbon number compounds in a single step has not been extensively explored. Catalytic pathways to produce high carbon number compounds from lignin require multiple steps to break the aryl etheric carbon-oxygen bonds; these steps are followed by energy-intensive processes to remove oxygens and/or carbon-carbon coupling. In this talk, we will demonstrate a novel upgrading strategy to transform lignin’s derived benzyl phenyl ether into large phenolic (C12-C22) compounds in one pot. These C12-C22 phenolic compounds have potential applications for phenol-formaldehyde polymers, diesel/jet fuels, and liquid organic hydrogen carriers. We will detail the one-step C-O breaking and C-C coupling of lignin-derived model compound by metal triflates under a mild condition (100°C and ambient pressure). Moreover, we will demonstrate how solvent polarity affects the catalytic performance and selectivity to C12-C22 phenolic products. Toward this end, we will provide our perspectives in applications of lignin-derived C12-C22 phenolic products and our future works.

Production of C12-C22 phenolic compounds by simultaneous C-O breaking and C-C coupling of lignin-derived benzyl phenyl ether

ACS Spring 2022

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