Issue 10, 2024

Tailoring a suitable partner system for cholinium cation to build effective solvents for biomass deconstruction

Abstract

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) and ionic liquids (ILs) are potential solvents for lignocellulosic biomass fractionation. In this study, the rice straw pretreatment efficiency of four cholinium-based solvents (DESs and ILs) prepared from the same sources (lactic acid and lysine) were comparatively investigated at 110 °C for 4 h. The lignin removal rate correlated well with the saccharification efficiency of the pulps. Quantum chemical (QC) calculations and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations focused on the microscopic structure and non-covalent interactions of the solvents and lignin model molecules (guaiacylglycerol-β-guaiacyl ether, GG) were carried out, and the results indicate that anions of the solvent systems play a leading role (through strong hydrogen bonds or electrostatic interactions) in establishing interactions with GG, supported by cations (via van der Waals interactions). There were clear positive relationships between the total interaction energies (IEs) and lignin removal, cellulose digestibility and glucose yields. In particular, [Ch][Lys] with a low self-interaction energy is able to free some active sites to form strong hydrogen bonds and electrostatic interactions with lignin, thus resulting in lignin dissolution and excellent delignification. For cholinium cations, an ideal partner system provides low self-IEs for solvent molecules and strong IEs between solvents and lignin, which are determined by the type and number of functional groups and the alkyl chain length of the partner components. This work provides ideas about tailoring suitable partner systems for cholinium cations to build solvents for efficient biomass deconstruction.

Graphical abstract: Tailoring a suitable partner system for cholinium cation to build effective solvents for biomass deconstruction

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
31 12月 2023
Accepted
02 4月 2024
First published
05 4月 2024

Green Chem., 2024,26, 5977-5987

Tailoring a suitable partner system for cholinium cation to build effective solvents for biomass deconstruction

X. Hou, G. Feng, Z. Chen, H. Wu, H. Zhao, S. Cao and J. P. Hallett, Green Chem., 2024, 26, 5977 DOI: 10.1039/D3GC05208G

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements