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Specific degradation of the bonds between lignin and carbohydrates is an important step towards separating individual lignocellulosic biopolymers for sustainable production of materials and chemicals. One of the most established covalent lignin-carbohydrate (LC) interactions is the ester bond between the α- or γ-hydroxyl group of a lignin phenylpropane unit and a glucuronic acid side chain of xylan. In this work, a model of the LC benzyl ester bond was synthesized in a one-pot reaction from a β-O-4 lignin unit and d-glucuronic acid, both from commercial sources. The resulting lignin-carbohydrate complex (LCC) model was unstable in aqueous solution. However, at pH 4, the rate of spontaneous hydrolysis was sufficiently low to allow for enzymatic splitting experiments. The enzymatic hydrolysis of the LC benzyl ester bond of the LCC model was demonstrated by means of the glucuronoyl esterase StGE2 from Sporotrichum thermophile, which showed a preference for erythro forms of the LCC model.

Plastics are a material group which have revolutionized the materials industry during the past century. However, the often fossil origin and littering of the material is problematic. Therefore, this study aims at exploring natural polymers, such as cellulose derivatives and hemicelluloses from different botanical origins, and demonstrate the possibility to use these polymers in a foaming application. The hemicelluloses were chemically treated in order to enhance their performance and foams with ratios as high as 4:1 of hemicellulose and the cellulose derivative, respectively, were successfully produced by a hot-mould foaming technique. The foams were found to be thermally stable up to about 280°C. The chemical modifications were confirmed by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra and the foams were evaluated with regard to their liquid absorption capacity as well as their density. After 1 min the best foam absorbed 12.5 g/g of liquid and after 30 min soak time and centrifugation the foams had absorption capacities between 2 and 5 g/g. All foams exhibited densities below 0.1 g/cm 3. In both the absorption test and density evaluation, the foams produced from mainly hemicellulose performed in a similar way as the reference foams based only on the cellulose derivative, which is considered an impressive result since cellulose is often reported to have superior properties to hemicelluloses.

Processes of extracting hemicellulose from annual plants usually neglect the cellulose fraction. This study explored the possibility of obtaining both a hemicellulose and a cellulose fraction of sufficient quality for further use, with barley husks used as the raw material. An alkaline extraction was used to isolate the biopolymers by a process in which sodium dithionite replaced the traditional sodium borohydride as the reducing agent. The cellulose fraction was successfully transformed into nanocellulose by sulfuric acid hydrolysis, and the obtained hemicellulose (i.e., arabinoxylan) displayed carbohydrate composition characteristics similar to those previously reported in the literature for processes of extracting hemicellulose from barley husks. Using this methodology, both the cellulose and hemicellulose can be isolated in high quantities of dry material and used for transformation into new bio-based materials.

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