Differences in extractability under subcritical water reveal interconnected hemicellulose and lignin recalcitrance in birch hardwoods

Abstract

Hardwoods constitute an essential renewable resource for the production of platform chemicals and bio-based materials. A method for the sequential extraction of hemicelluloses and lignin from hardwoods is proposed using subcritical water in buffered conditions without prior delignification. This allows the cascade isolation of mannan, xylan and lignin-carbohydrate complexes based on their extractability and recalcitrance in birch lignocellulose. The time evolution of the extraction was monitored in terms of composition, oligomeric mass profiling and sequencing of the hemicelluloses, and molecular structure of the lignin and lignin-carbohydrate complexes (LCCs) by heteronuclear single quantum coherence nuclear magnetic resonance (2D HSQC NMR). The minor mannan and pectin populations are easily extractable at short times (<5 min), whereas the major glucuronoxylan (GX) becomes enriched at moderate extraction times. Longer extraction times result in major hydrolysis exhibiting GX fractions with tighter glucuronation spacing and lignin enrichment. The pattern of acetylation and glucuronation in GX is correlated with extractability and with connectivity with lignin through LCCs. This interconnected molecular heterogeneity of hemicelluloses and lignin has important implications for their supramolecular assembly and therefore determines the recalcitrance of hardwood lignocellulosic biomass.