Issue 21, 2016

Aggregation-induced emission: the origin of lignin fluorescence

Abstract

Aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristics of lignin, which has the intrinsic aggregation behavior, are detected and studied for the first time. A positive correlation between the growth multiple of fluorescence intensity (l1:9/l10:0) and the sulfonation degree was found in the water–ethanol system. The AIE phenomenon and mechanism were further studied by the addition of cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) owing to the electrostatic interaction with lignosulfonate. It is well known that lignin contains carbonyl groups, stilbene (Ar–Cα[double bond, length as m-dash]Cβ) and α-carbonyl (Ar–Cα[double bond, length as m-dash]O) building blocks. We deduce that cluster of the carbonyl groups and restriction of intramolecular rotation (RIR) effects together contribute to the AIE activity of lignin as lignin does not exhibit blue emission based on its limited conjugated structure. Our results provide a new prospective to understand the fluorescence in lignin and explore novel potential application for the AIE activity of lignin.

Graphical abstract: Aggregation-induced emission: the origin of lignin fluorescence

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
07 Feb 2016
Accepted
08 Apr 2016
First published
08 Apr 2016

Polym. Chem., 2016,7, 3502-3508

Aggregation-induced emission: the origin of lignin fluorescence

Y. Xue, X. Qiu, Y. Wu, Y. Qian, M. Zhou, Y. Deng and Y. Li, Polym. Chem., 2016, 7, 3502 DOI: 10.1039/C6PY00244G

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