No abstract

A highly efficient process for producing bulk chemical diethyl maleate is achieved with polyoxometalate ionic liquids from a cleavage lignin aromatic unit with high yield and selectivity, which is ascribed to the intensive synergistic effect between the acidic depolymerization, oxidative aromatic ring cleavage, and in situ esterification. This work offers new insight into the versatile petroleum-based chemical production from renewable resources.

Selective catalytic tailoring of herbaceous lignin for the production of methyl p-hydroxycinnamate (MPC).

Developing new and facile strategies for multiple-site reversible chemical absorption of pollutant gases is of wide interests in chemical engineering research. Herein, a series of lithium (Li)-triethylene glycol (TEG)-chelated ionic liquids (ILs) with crownether-like cation and different anions were designed. The Li-TEG-chelated ILs were prepared in quantitative yields by simply mixing equimolar TEG and Li salts. It is found that the chelation of TEG with Li + activates the hydroxyl sites in TEG for strong interaction with ammonia (NH 3 ). Thus, the hydroxyl sites chelated with Li + , as well as the chelation-unsaturated Li + , provide the multiple sites for chemical absorption of NH 3 in Li-TEG-chelated ILs. Moreover, the absorption of NH 3 in Li-TEGchelated ILs is totally reversible, with the NH 3 solubilities remaining unchanged after eight times of recycling. The results obtained herein can provide useful guidance for the construction of gas absorbents with high capacity and excellent reversibility.

A novel and efficient water/oil emulsion reactor for organosolv lignin depolymerization is presented using an ionic liquid catalyst based on the self-surfactivity of lignin. The physical–chemical properties of the emulsion reactor and lignin were intensively studied using optical photo, dynamic light scattering, surface tension measurement, and hydrophile–lipophile balance value determination. The results show that the emulsion reactor demonstrates a more significant process intensification effect on lignin depolymerization, with more than 29.60 mg g–1 desired phenolic compounds obtained, which is about 3.3 times higher than that from a reactor without emulsification. Another advantage of this water/oil emulsion reactor is that both the organic solvent (n-butanol) and the ionic liquid catalyst can be recycled easily, as the depletion of lignin surfactant at the end of depolymerization can result in the phase partition and the enrichment of final products in the oil phase automatically.