In this work, we have developed a novel green nanoparticle platform based on lignin without chemical modification. The alkali lignin (AL) was used to prepare nanoparticles with perfect spheres and well dispersibility via a simple self-assembly method by adding water to a methanol solution of AL. Finally, we showed that self-assembly of AL with the bioactive molecule resveratrol (RSV) and Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles led to the formation of stable nanodrug carrier. In cytological and animal tests, the magnetic RSV-loaded lignin nanoparticles (AL/RSV/Fe3O4 NPs) demonstrated good anticancer effects and enhanced in vitro RSV release and stability, drug accumulation, and better tumor reduction, as well lower adverse effects than free drugs, strongly supporting the AL NPs application as a new and highly efficient nanodelivery. Moreover, this renewable green material with its simple preparation technique and easy large-scale production would be a highly potential candidate for many poorly soluble drugs.

ortho-Phenylenes represent a fundamental but relatively unexplored class of conjugated molecular architecture. We have developed a robust synthetic approach to monodisperse o-phenylene oligomers which we have demonstrated by synthesizing a homologous series up to the dodecamer. The o-phenylenes exhibit complex conformational behavior but are biased toward a specific 2-fold-symmetric conformation which we believe corresponds to a stacked helix. Surprisingly, the series exhibits long-range delocalization, as measured by bathochromic shifts in UV/vis spectra. Although the overall magnitude of the shifts is modest (but comparable to some other classes of conjugated materials), the effective conjugation length of the series is approximately eight repeat units. The oligomers also exhibit an unusual hypsochromic shift in their fluorescence spectra with increasing length. The origin of these trends is discussed in the context of conformational analysis and DFT calculations of the frontier molecular orbitals for the series.

Lignin, as the most abundant aromatic biopolymer in nature, has attracted great attention due to the complexity and richness of its functional groups for value‐added applications. The yield of production of lignin and the reactivity of prepared lignin are very important to guarantee the study and development of lignin‐based chemicals and materials. Various fractionation techniques have been developed to obtain high yield and relatively high‐purity lignin as well as carbohydrates (hemicelluloses and celluloses) and to reduce the condensed and degraded nature of conventional biorefinery lignin. Herein, novel and efficient biomass fractionation and lignin fractionation towards lignin valorization are summarized and discussed.

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Lignin, as the most abundant aromatic renewable biopolymer in nature, has long been regarded as waste and simply discarded from the pulp and paper industry. In recent years, with many breakthroughs in lignin chemistry, pretreatment, and processing techniques, a lot of the inherent bioactivities of lignin, including antioxidant activities, antimicrobial activities, biocompatibilities, optical properties, and metal‐ion chelating and redox activities, have been discovered and this has opened a new field not only for lignin‐based materials but also for biomaterials. In this Review, the biological activities of lignin and drug/gene delivery and bioimaging applications of various types of lignin‐based material are summarized. In addition, the challenges and limitations of lignin‐based materials encountered during the development of biomedical applications are also discussed.

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In this work, we designed a novel multifunctional Pickering emulsion stabilized by lignin-based nanoparticles. We utilized the industrial waste lignin to prepare thermoresponsive lignin copolymer by grafting poly­(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) onto lignin via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) and then formed self-assembled nanoparticles (AL-g-PNIPAM NPs). AL-g-PNIPAM NPs well stabilized trans-resveratrol (trans-RSV)-containing palm oil emulsion droplets in water. Thanks to the abundant UV chromophoric groups of lignin, the light stability of trans-RSV was significantly improved by the protecting of the AL-g-PNIPAM NPs layer. Moreover, the emulsion properties and release behavior strongly depend on the temperature and nanoparticles size: decreasing temperature induced deformation of AL-g-PNIPAM NPs at the interface, an increase in droplet size, and the accelerated release of trans-RSV. These results showed the great potential of this approach of a green functional lignin-based nanoparticles stabilized Pickering emulsion for storage and thermal-controlled release of light-unstable and poorly water-soluble drugs.

BA-loaded cellulose-graft-poly(l-lactic acid) nanoparticles were fabricated by employing cellulose and poly(l-lactic acid) as materials and betulinic acid as a model drug. The nanoparticles have appropriate size and excellent antitumor activities.