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5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is a platform chemical that can be produced from renewable carbohydrate sources. HMF can be converted to 1,2,4-benzenetriol (BTO) which after catalytic hydrodeoxygenation provides a route to cyclohexanone and cyclohexanol. This mixture, known as KA oil, is an important feedstock for polymeric products such as nylons which use benzene as feedstock that is obtained from the BTX fraction produced in oil refineries. Therefore, the conversion of HMF to BTO provides a renewable, alternative route toward products such as nylons. However, BTO is usually considered an undesired byproduct in HMF synthesis and is only obtained in small amounts. Here, we show that Lewis acid catalysts can be utilized for the selective conversion of HMF to BTO in subsuper critical water. Overall, up to 54 mol % yield of BTO was achieved at 89% HMF conversion using ZnCl2. ZnCl2 and similarly effective Zn(OTf)2 and Fe(OTf)2 are known as relatively soft Lewis acids. Other Lewis acid like Hf(OTf)4 and Sc(OTf)3 gave increased selectivity toward levulinic acid (up to 33 mol %) instead of BTO, a well-known HMF derivative typically obtained by acid catalysis. Catalytic hydrodeoxygenation of BTO toward cyclohexanone in water was achieved in up to 45% yield using 5 wt % Pd on Al2O3 combined with AlCl3 or Al(OTf)3 as catalysts. Additionally, a mild selective oxygen induced dimerization pathway of BTO to 2,2′,4,4′,5,5′-hexahydroxybiphenyl (5,5′-BTO dimer) was identified., A Lewis acidic metal salt catalyzed pathway to 1,2,4-benzenetriol in water, a new catalytic route to access biobased C6-aromatics.

Methodologies for the high-yield recovery of lignin with retention of its native C[sbnd]O bonded structure is an essential prerequisite for many novel high-end lignin applications. Enzymatic residual lignin isolation is such a methodology that leaves the lignin untouched by using enzymatic desaccharification. Thus, a series of representative lignocellulose substrates (birch, pine, walnut shell and reed) were evaluated for effective native lignin isolation, with emphasis on the effect on the lignin structure and purity. The effect of enzyme loading and ball milling severity were studied by tracking residual saccharides and the structural integrity of the isolated lignin. Prolongation of ball milling time could achieve a higher carbohydrate removal and avoid the loading of extra enzyme. However, the application of two or more steps of enzymatic hydrolysis with higher enzyme loading and short ball milling time was shown as an alternative to long ball milling time to achieve similar carbohydrate removal and avoid extensive decrease of the lignin molecular weight (MW). This MW decrease was caused by breaking of some linkages, but not too a large enough extent to cause significant differences in the 2D HSQC NMR spectra. The recalcitrance towards increased enzyme hydrolysis activity by ball milling was different for the four representative biomasses and followed an order of walnut shell > reed ≈ pine > birch by comprehensive analysis the obtained data. Overall, the results showed a clear two-way synergy between enzymatic treatment and ball milling efficiency to isolate lignin with high yield, high native linkage content, purity and minimal MW reduction.

Synthetic lignin was prepared biocatalytically in a one-pot, two-step reaction using an oxidase/peroxidase cascade enzyme system. Using eugenol in combination with eugenol oxidase and a peroxidase, lignin-like material was produced. The cascade reaction takes advantage of the ability of the oxidase to produce coniferyl alcohol and hydrogen peroxide from eugenol and molecular oxygen. The hydrogen peroxide is used by the peroxidase for the formation of crosslinks that typify lignin. As eugenol oxidase has a broad substrate acceptance profile, also 4-allylphenol (chavicol) and 4-allyl-2,6-dimethoxyphenol could be used as precursors of the synthetic lignin. As a result, all three naturally occurring monolignols could be prepared and incorporated in the synthetic lignin. The reaction was optimized in order to achieve the highest possible yield of insoluble lignin oligomers and scaled up to 1 gram. Analysis of the water-insoluble product by gel permeation chromatography revealed the formation of relatively small lignin oligomers (approximate to 1000dalton). By using two-dimensional heteronuclear single quantum coherence nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (2D HSQC NMR) analysis it could be demonstrated that the material contained alpha-O-4/-O-4, beta-O-4, beta-beta, beta-5 linkages and dibenzodioxocin units. All these features indicate that the biocatalytically produced material closely resembles natural lignin. While 54% of eugenol was converted into water-insoluble oligomers, the remaining substrate was converted into water-soluble dimers and tetramers which are important lignin model compounds. Therefore, the presented method represents a valuable and facile biocatalytic approach for the preparation of lignin-like material and potentially valuable chemicals.

Biobased furanics like 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) are interesting platform chemicals for the synthesis of biofuel additives and polymer precursors. 5-HMF is typically prepared from C6 ketoses like fructose, psicose, sorbose and tagatose. A known byproduct is 2-hydroxyacetylfuran (2-HAF), particularly when using sorbose and psicose as the reactants. We here report an experimental and kinetic modeling study on the rate of decomposition of 2-HAF in a typical reaction medium for 5-HMF synthesis (water, Brönsted acid), with the incentive to gain insights in the stability of 2-HAF. A total of 12 experiments were performed (batch setup) in water with sulfuric acid as the catalyst (100–170 °C, CH2SO4 ranging between 0.033 and 1.37 M and an initial 2-HAF concentration between 0.04 and 0.26 M). Analysis of the reaction mixtures showed a multitude of products, of which levulinic acid (LA) and formic acid (FA) were the most prominent (Ymax,FA = 24 mol %, Ymax,LA = 10 mol %) when using HCl. In contrast, both LA and FA were formed in minor amounts when using H2SO4 as the catalyst. The decomposition reaction of 2-HAF using sulfuric acid was successfully modeled (R2 = 0.9957) using a first-order approach in 2-HAF and acid. The activation energy was found to be 98.7 (±2.2) kJ mol–1., An experimental and kinetic modeling study on the rate of decomposition of 2-hydroxyacetylfuran in water using a Brönsted acid was investigated in a batch setup.

Yildiz, Guray/0000-0001-7399-0605; Heeres, Hero Jan/0000-0002-1249-543X, Poplar-derived lignin-rich feedstock (i.e. stillage) obtained from bioethanol production was subjected to fast pyrolysis in a modified fluidised bed reactor at 430 degrees C, 480 degrees C, and 530 degrees C. The stillage was pretreated by enzymatic digestion prior to fast pyrolysis. Pyrolysis vapors were collected by fractional condensation to separate the heavy organic and aqueous phase liquids. The intention of this study was to assess the potential utilization of lignin-rich digested stillage as a fast pyrolysis feedstock. Heavy organic and aqueous phase pyrolysis liquids were obtained in yields ranging from 15.1-18.1 wt.% and 9.7-13.4 wt.% respectively. The rest of the feedstock material was converted to char (37.1-44.7 wt.%) and non-condensable gases (27.1-31.5 wt.%). Detailed liquid analysis indicated that the heavy organic phase fractions contain compounds arising from the degradation of lignin, residual microbial biomass and remaining polysaccharides. Fast pyrolysis adds 26.8 wt.% to the conversion of this otherwise recalcitrant feedstock material, thereby reducing waste generation and enhancing the value of second-generation bioethanol production.

Large-scale biorefineries converting lignocellulosic biomass into chemicals, fuels, and energy require a cost-effective pretreatment process that can effectively fractionate all main lignocellulose constituents. A mild organosolv process has been developed using a system of dimethyl carbonate (DMC) and ethylene glycol (EG) as solvent. Softwood biomass (pine, spruce, cedar, and Douglas fir) was fractionated using mild conditions: 140 °C, 40 min, DMC-EG, and sulfuric acid. Organosolv pulping of the softwood biomass usually leads to poor delignification hampering enzymatic cellulose hydrolysis. However, for the developed system, effective pretreatment and subsequent enzymatic cellulose hydrolysis into glucose (up to 84.7%) was observed in combination with a high yield of monomeric hemicellulose sugars and monophenolic compounds from lignin (up to 98% compared to theoretical monomer yield). In sum, effective fractionation and in situ lignin depolymerization was demonstrated for various softwood feedstock combined with limited solvent loss at mild conditions and low reactor pressure.

Current lignin fractionation methods use harsh conditions that alter the native lignin structure, resulting in a recalcitrant material which is undesired for downstream processing. Milder fractionation processes allow for the isolation of lignins that are high in &beta, aryl ether (&beta, O-4) content, however, at reduced extraction efficiency. The development of improved lignin extraction methods using mild conditions is therefore desired. For this reason, a flow-through setup for mild ethanosolv extraction (120 &deg, C) was developed. The influence of acid concentration, ethanol/water ratio, and the use of other linear alcohol co-solvents on the delignification efficiency and the &beta, O-4 content were evaluated. With walnut shells as model feedstock, extraction efficiencies of over 55% were achieved, yielding lignin with a good structural quality in terms of &beta, O-4 linking motifs (typically over 60 per 100 aromatic units). For example, lignin containing 66 &beta, O-4 linking motifs was obtained with an 80:20 n-propanol/water ratio, 0.18 M H2SO4 with overall a good extraction efficiency of 57% after 5 hours. The majority of the lignin was extracted in the first 2 hours and this lignin showed the best structural quality. Compared to batch extractions, both higher lignin extraction efficiency and higher &beta, O-4 content were obtained using the flow setup.

Lignin is a promising feedstock for the replacement of conventional carbon sources for the production of chemicals and fuels. In this paper, results are reported for the depolymerization of various residual lignins in the absence of a catalyst by utilizing ozone. Reactions were performed in a microreactor setup ensuring high gas-liquid mass transfer rates, a low inventory of ozone, and straightforward scale-up possibilities. The ozonation is demonstrated using a representative model compound (vanillin) and various lignins (pyrolytic and organosolv) dissolved in methanol (2.5 wt %). Experiments were performed under ambient conditions, at gas-liquid flow ratios ranging from 30 to 90 and short residence times on the order of 12-24 s. Analyses of the products after methanol removal revealed the presence of (di)carboxylic acids, methyl esters, and acetals. Extensive depolymerization was achieved (i.e., up to 30% for pyrolytic lignin and 70% for organosolv lignins). Furthermore, a two-step approach in which the ozonated lignin is further hydrotreated (350-400 degrees C, 100 bar H-2, 4 h, Pd/C as catalyst) showed a substantial increase in depolymerization efficiency, yielding a 2.5-fold increased monomer yield in the product oil compared to a hydrotreatment step only.

The pyrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass generates a liquid product, known as pyrolysis oil, that can be further processed into biofuels and value-added chemicals. During pyrolysis, cellulose and hemicelulose fractions are converted into a range of water-soluble sugar derivatives, for which several valorisation strategies exist. On the other hand, lignin is broken down into so-called pyrolytic lignin, a water-insoluble complex mixture of aromatic oligomers that requires different upgrading strategies than the sugar rich fraction. Here, we report an experimental study on the valorisation of pyrolytic lignin via catalytic hydrotreatment in the absence of an external solvent. A variety of carbon-supported noble-metal heterogeneous catalysts were tested (Ru/C, Pd/C, Pt/C and Rh/C), as well as conventional hydrotreatment catalysts (sulphided NiMo/Al 2 O 3 and CoMo/Al 2 O 3 ) to obtain valuable low molecular weight aromatic and phenolic compounds. Overall, depolymerized liquids were obtained with organic yields of up to 63 wt%. Pd/C was shown to be the best catalyst, yielding 59 wt% of monomers based on the organic product (i.e. 33 wt% based on pyrolytic lignin intake). While noble metal catalysts favored higher monomer yields, though with some over-reduction of aromatic rings to saturated hydrocarbons, sulphided catalysts were more efficient in deoxygenation and aromatization reactions, but yielded less monomers. The hydrocracking efficiency was shown to be strongly dependent on the reaction temperature. Based on the experimental data, a global reaction network is proposed. The high monomer yields reveal the potential of catalytic hydrotreatment for the upgrading of pyrolytic lignin into valuable phenolics and aromatics.

In the Supporting Information of the original article (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acssuschemeng.0c08901), the x-axes in Figures S6c and d are wrongly labeled. It is stated that the reaction times are in “minutes”; however, the reaction times are actually in hours. Additionally, for Figure S6d, the indicated times are incorrect. A new Supporting Information file is provided here in which these mistakes have been corrected.

NJW would like to acknowledge the EPSRC grants EP/J018139/1 and EP/K00445X/1 for funding and PJD and KB would like to acknowledge the European Union (Marie Curie ITN ‘SuBiCat’ PITN-GA-2013-607044) for funding. CSL and IP would like to thank the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council [EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowship to CSL] and CRITICAT Centre for Doctoral Training for financial support [Ph.D. studentship to IP; Grant code: EP/L016419/1]. Here, we report on the ability of the biomass derived solvents ethanol and, in particular, n-butanol to fractionate lignocellulose into its main components. An organosolv system consisting of n-butanol containing 5% water and 0.2 M HCl at reflux was found to remove effectively the lignin and hemicellulose components of lignocellulosic biomass leaving a cellulose pulp suitable for enzymatic hydrolysis to simple sugars. Using a hardwood beech pulp as an example, essentially complete conversion of the cellulose component to reducing sugars was achieved with a cellulase loading of 22 FPU per g. Analysis of the solubilised hemicellulose fractions revealed that they consist almost exclusively of alkyl xylosides and mannosides which could serve as valuable synthetic building blocks. Additionally, the mild conditions (

Lignin valorization strategies are a key factor for achieving more economically competitive biorefineries based on lignocellulosic biomass. Most of the emerging elegant procedures to obtain specific aromatic products rely on the lignin substrate having a high content of the readily cleavable β-O-4 linkage as present in the native lignin structure. This provides a miss-match with typical technical lignins that are highly degraded and therefore are low in β-O-4 linkages. Therefore, the extraction yields, and the quality of the obtained lignin are of utmost importance to access new lignin valorization pathways. In this manuscript, a simple protocol is presented to obtain lignins with high β-O-4 content by relatively mild ethanol extraction that can be applied to different lignocellulose sources. Furthermore, analysis procedures to determine the quality of the lignins are presented together with a depolymerization protocol that yields specific phenolic 2-arylmethyl-1,3-dioxolanes, which can be used to evaluate the obtained lignins. The presented results demonstrate the link between lignin quality and potential for the lignins to be depolymerized into specific monomeric aromatic chemicals. Overall, the extraction and depolymerization demonstrates a trade-off between the lignin extraction yield and the retention of the native aryl-ether structure and thus the potential of the lignin to be used as the substrate for the production of chemicals for higher-value applications.

Lignocellulose is a widely available carbon source and a promising feedstock for the production of advanced second‐generation biofuels. Nonetheless, lignin, one of its major components, is largely underutilized and only considered an undesired byproduct. Through catalytic hydrotreatment, the highly condensed lignin can be partially depolymerized into a range of monomers. However, its recalcitrance and the presence of aromatic fragments linked by C-C bonds require extensive cracking, which is challenging to achieve. Here, a two‐step strategy is reported in which an initial pretreatment step with ozone is used prior to catalytic hydrotreatment to boost lignin depolymerization. Three types of lignin (Kraft, pyrolytic, and Fabiola organosolv) are used as feedstocks and the ozonation step is performed under ambient conditions with either methanol or ethanol as the solvent. The pretreatment is shown to have a positive effect on the subsequent hydrotreatment reaction (Pd/C, 350 °C, 100 bar H2) and gives product oils with significantly lower Mw (up to 43% lower), higher volatility, and improved calorific values (up to 45.3 MJ kg−1) compared to a direct hydrotreatment.

In the coming decades major changes are expected in the chemical industry regarding the utilized raw material inputs. Depleting fossil resources will gradually be replaced by renewable feedstocks wherever possible. Because of this transition, new and efficient methodologies are required that enable depolymerization and defunctionalization of these complex, highly oxygenated biopolymers. Additionally, utilization of all components of lignocellulose is of great importance. In particular, depolymerization of lignin into its aromatic subunits or defined aromatic platform chemicals has proven challenging. Various approaches to overcome these difficulties have been attempted and resulted in new and exciting developments in many fields. In this review we will give an overview of bond cleavage strategies relevant for lignin depolymerization using homogeneous catalysts, focusing especially on reductive and hydrogen transfer methods.

The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the European Commission (SuBiCat Initial Training Network, Call FP7-PEOPLE-2013-ITN, grant no. 607044). Conversion of lignin into well-defined aromatic chemicals is a highly attractive goal, but is often hampered by recondensation of the formed fragments, especially in acidolysis. Here, we describe new strategies that markedly suppress such undesired pathways to result in diverse aromatic compounds previously not systematically targeted from lignin. Model studies established that a catalytic amount of triflic acid is very effective in cleaving the β-O-4 linkage, most abundant in lignin. An aldehyde product was identified as the main cause of side reactions under cleavage conditions. Capturing this unstable compound by reaction with diols and by in situ catalytic hydrogenation or decarbonylation lead to three distinct groups of aromatic compounds in high yields acetals, ethanol and ethyl aromatics, and methyl aromatics. Notably, the same product groups were obtained when these approaches were successfully extended to lignin. In addition, the formation of higher molecular weight side products was markedly suppressed, indicating that the aldehyde intermediates play a significant role in these processes. The described strategy has the potential to be generally applicable for the production of interesting aromatic compounds from lignin. Postprint

Kraft lignin, a side-product of the paper industry, is considered an attractive feedstock for the production of biorenewable chemicals. However, its recalcitrant nature and sulfur content render catalytic conversions challenging. This study demonstrates the efficacy of noble metal-based catalysts for the production of a lignin oil enriched in alkylphenolic and aromatic compounds, by a catalytic hydrotreatment of Kraft lignin without the use of an external solvent. Eight commercially available catalysts were evaluated using four different metals (Ru, Pt, Pd, Rh) on two supports (activated carbon and Al2O3). The product oils were extensively analyzed by means of GPC, GCxGC-FID, GC-MS-FID, and elemental analysis. The catalysts were characterized by various techniques (N-2 physisorption, NH3-TPD, XRD and TEM) before and after reaction, and their physico-chemical properties were correlated with catalytic performance. Al2O3 as support gave better results than carbon as support in terms of lignin oil yield and composition, due to a combination of higher total acidity, mildly acidic sites and a mesoporous structure. The metallic phase also significantly affected product distribution. The best results were obtained using a Rh/Al2O3 catalyst, resulting in a lignin oil yield of 36.3 wt% on a lignin intake and a total monomer yield of 30.0 wt% on lignin intake including 15.3 wt% of alkylphenolic and 7.9 wt% of aromatic compounds, and with a sulfur content

Funding: Marie Curie Individual Fellowship project ArtOxiZymes to AGJ (contract no. H2020-MSCA-IF-2014-657755), EPSRC Critical mass grant ‘Clean catalysis for sustainable development’ (EP/J018139/1) and Sasol (CASE studentship to P.J.D.), EPSRC (EP/K014854/1). Artificial metalloenzymes (ArMs) are hybrid catalysts that offer a unique opportunity to combine the superior performance of natural protein structures with the unnatural reactivity of transition-metal catalytic centers. Therefore, they provide the prospect of highly selective and active catalytic chemical conversions for which natural enzymes are unavailable. Herein, we show how by rationally combining robust site-specific phosphine bioconjugation methods and a lipid-binding protein (SCP-2L), an artificial rhodium hydroformylase was developed that displays remarkable activities and selectivities for the biphasic production of long-chain linear aldehydes under benign aqueous conditions. Overall, this study demonstrates that judiciously chosen protein-binding scaffolds can be adapted to obtain metalloenzymes that provide the reactivity of the introduced metal center combined with specifically intended product selectivity. Publisher PDF

First, this chapter provides a systematic overview of basic feedstocks used in the petrochemical industry. The most important bulk chemicals derived from the important C2, C3, and C4 building blocks, as well as BTX (benzene, toluene, xylene), and the corresponding catalytic methods are presented. Furthermore, the use of coal and natural gas is discussed. The second part of this chapter will give a short introduction on the importance of renewable resources and the biorefinery concept; the focus will be on the three main categories of biomass resources: carbohydrate-based feedstocks, lignin and triglycerides. We look at the structure and reactivity of these materials with special emphasis on catalytic methods and important platform chemicals. Finally, thermal methods such as pyrolysis and gasification are briefly explained.

This work was funded by the EP/J018139/1, EP/K00445X/1 grants (NJW and PCJK), an EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowship (CSL), and the European Union (Marie Curie ITN ‘SuBiCat’ PITN-GA-2013-607044, CWL, NJW, PCJK, PJD, KB, JdeV). The development of fundamentally new approaches for lignin depolymerization is challenged by the complexity of this aromatic biopolymer. While overly simplified model compounds often lack relevance to the chemistry of lignin, the direct use of lignin streams poses significant analytical challenges to methodology development. Ideally, new methods should be tested on model compounds that are complex enough to mirror the structural diversity in lignin but still of sufficiently low molecular weight to enable facile analysis. In this contribution, we present a new class of advanced (β-O-4)-(β-5) dilinkage models that are highly realistic representations of a lignin fragment. Together with selected β-O-4, β-5, and β–β structures, these compounds provide a detailed understanding of the reactivity of various types of lignin linkages in acid catalysis in conjunction with stabilization of reactive intermediates using ethylene glycol. The use of these new models has allowed for identification of novel reaction pathways and intermediates and led to the characterization of new dimeric products in subsequent lignin depolymerization studies. The excellent correlation between model and lignin experiments highlights the relevance of this new class of model compounds for broader use in catalysis studies. Only by understanding the reactivity of the linkages in lignin at this level of detail can fully optimized lignin depolymerization strategies be developed. Postprint

Ionic liquids are attractive reaction media for the solubilisation and depolymerisation of lignin into value-added products. However, mechanistic insight related to the cleavage of specific linkages relevant for efficient lignin depolymerisation in such solvents is still lacking. This study presents important insight into the scission of the most abundant lignin β-O-4 motif in Brønsted acidic ionic liquids. Using relevant model compounds, cleavage products were identified and undesired side reactions examined carefully. Stabilization of reactive intermediates was achieved in ionic liquids comprising both Brønsted acidic function as well as stabilized nanoparticles that comprise hydrogenation activity in order to supress undesired side reactions. Especially, the in situ hydrogenation of the aldehyde intermediate originating from acid catalysed cleavage of lignin beta-O-4 model compounds into more stable alcohols was investigated. This is the first time that such products have been systematically targeted in these multifunctional reaction media in relation to lignin depolymerization.

This work was funded by the European Union (Marie Curie ITN ‘SuBiCat’ PITN-GA-2013-607044, PJD, CWL, NJW, PCKL, KB, JGdeV) as well as EP/J018139/1, EP/K00445X/1 grants (NJW and PCJK) and an EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowship (CSL). The depolymerization of lignin into valuable aromatic chemicals is one of the key goals towards establishing economically viable biorefineries. In this contribution we present a simple approach for converting lignin to aromatic monomers in high yields, under mild reaction conditions. The methodology relies on the use of catalytic amounts of easy to handle metal triflates (M(OTf)x). Initially, we evaluated the reactivity of a broad range of metal triflates using simple lignin model compounds. More advanced lignin model compounds were also used to study the reactivity of different lignin linkages. The product aromatic monomers were either phenolic C2-acetals obtained by stabilization of the aldehyde cleavage products by reaction with ethylene glycol, or methyl aromatics obtained by catalytic decarbonylation. Notably, when the former method was ultimately tested on lignin, especially Fe(OTf)3 proved very effective and the phenolic C2-acetal products were obtained in an excellent, 19.3±3.2 wt % yield. Postprint

We describe two new methods of parallel chemical synthesis of libraries of peptide conjugates of phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligonucleotide (PMO) cargoes on a scale suitable for cell screening prior to in vivo analysis for therapeutic development. The methods represent an extension of the SELection of PEPtide CONjugates (SELPEPCON) approach previously developed for parallel peptide-peptide nucleic acid (PNA) synthesis. However, these new methods allow for the utilization of commercial PMO as cargo with both C- and N-termini unfunctionalized. The synthetic methods involve conjugation in solution phase, followed by rapid purification via biotin-streptavidin immobilization and subsequent reductive release into solution, avoiding the need for painstaking high-performance liquid chromatography purifications. The synthesis methods were applied for screening of PMO conjugates of a 16-member library of variants of a 10-residue ApoE peptide, which was suggested for blood-brain barrier crossing. In this work the conjugate library was tested in an exon skipping assay using skeletal mouse mdx cells, a model of Duchene's muscular dystrophy where higher activity peptide-PMO conjugates were identified compared with the starting peptide-PMO. The results demonstrate the power of the parallel synthesis methods for increasing the speed of optimization of peptide sequences in conjugates of PMO for therapeutic screening.

Oxidation reactions are an important part of the synthetic organic chemist's toolkit and continued advancements have, in many cases, resulted in high yields and selectivities. This review aims to give an overview of the current state-of-the-art in oxygenation reactions using both chemical and enzymatic processes, the design principles applied to date and a possible future in the direction of hybrid catalysts combining the best of chemical and natural design. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The transition from a petroleum-based infrastructure to an industry which utilises renewable resources is one of the key research challenges of the coming years. Biomass, consisting of inedible plant material that does not compete with our food production, is a suitable renewable feedstock. In recent years, much research has been focused on developing new chemical strategies for the valorisation of different biomass components. In addition to the many heterogeneous and enzymatic approaches, homogenous catalysis has emerged as an important tool for the highly selective transformation of biomass, or biomass derived platform chemicals. This Perspective provides an overview of the most important recent developments in homogeneous catalysis towards the production and transformation of biomass and biomass related model compounds. The chemical valorisation of the main components of lignocellulosic biomass-lignin and (hemi)cellulose is reviewed. In addition, important new catalyst systems for the conversion of triglycerides and fatty acids are presented. © the Partner Organisations 2014.

A novel method for the parallel synthesis of peptide-biocargo conjugates was developed and applied to synthesize cell-penetrating peptide (CPP)–PNA705 conjugate libraries for screening in a splicing redirection assay., A novel method for the parallel synthesis of peptide-biocargo conjugates was developed that utilizes affinity purification for fast isolation of the conjugates in order to avoid time consuming HPLC purification. The methodology was applied to create two libraries of cell-penetrating peptide (CPP)–PNA705 conjugates from parallel-synthesized peptide libraries. The conjugates were tested for their ability to induce splicing redirection in HeLa pLuc705 cells. The results demonstrate how the novel methodology can be applied for screening purposes in order to find suitable CPP-biocargo combinations and further optimization of CPPs.

Many bioinspired transition-metal catalysts have been developed over the recent years. In this review the progress in the design and application of ligand systems based on peptides and DNA and the development of artificial metalloenzymes are reviewed with a particular emphasis on the combination of phosphane ligands with powerful molecular recognition and shape selectivity of biomolecules. The various approaches for the assembly of these catalytic systems will be highlighted, and the possibilities that the use of the building blocks of Nature provide for catalyst optimisation strategies are discussed.

Many bioinspired transition-metal catalysts have been developed over the recent years. In this review the progress in the design and application of ligand systems based on peptides and DNA and the development of artificial metalloenzymes are reviewed with a particular emphasis on the combination of phosphane ligands with powerful molecular recognition and shape selectivity of biomolecules. The various approaches for the assembly of these catalytic systems will be highlighted, and the possibilities that the use of the building blocks of Nature provide for catalyst optimisation strategies are discussed.

Lignin is a highly abundant, renewable aromatic polymer that can potentially be obtained in large quantities from lignocellulosic biorefineries. Thus the valorisation of this renewable resource by the production of aromatic chemicals would be highly desirable and is especially important for achieving high yields of these products. In this regard, not only the catalytic method used should be highly selective, but also we must better understand the possible correlations between the structure of the lignin used and the yield of useful products. Here, we demonstrate that lignins obtained from a range of different biomass sources and pretreatment methods can be successfully depolymerized using iron(III) triflate in the presence of ethylene glycol to give p-(1,3-dioxolan-2-yl)methyl substituted phenols. 27 lignins, obtained from 13 different pretreatment methods, were examined in this study. A combined yield of up to 35.5 wt% of acetal products was obtained from a beta-aryl ether rich organosolv lignin and the best yield of a single component (16.5 wt%) was achieved starting from pine lignin. Much lower yields were obtained from technical lignins which were low in beta-aryl ether content, whilst a range of organosolv lignins of intermediate beta-aryl ether content gave intermediate yields of acetal products. Overall, correlations were found between the product distributions and yields and structural data of the parent lignins obtained from 2D HSQC NMR analysis.

Lignin valorization strategies are a key factor for achieving more economically competitive biorefineries based on lignocellulosic biomass. Most of the emerging elegant procedures to obtain specific aromatic products rely on the lignin substrate having a high content of the readily cleavable β-O-4 linkage as present in the native lignin structure. This provides a miss-match with typical technical lignins that are highly degraded and therefore are low in β-O-4 linkages. Therefore, the extraction yields, and the quality of the obtained lignin are of utmost importance to access new lignin valorization pathways. In this manuscript, a simple protocol is presented to obtain lignins with high β-O-4 content by relatively mild ethanol extraction that can be applied to different lignocellulose sources. Furthermore, analysis procedures to determine the quality of the lignins are presented together with a depolymerization protocol that yields specific phenolic 2-arylmethyl-1,3-dioxolanes, which can be used to evaluate the obtained lignins. The presented results demonstrate the link between lignin quality and potential for the lignins to be depolymerized into specific monomeric aromatic chemicals. Overall, the extraction and depolymerization demonstrates a trade-off between the lignin extraction yield and the retention of the native aryl-ether structure and thus the potential of the lignin to be used as the substrate for the production of chemicals for higher-value applications.