Inhomogeneities in the Chemical Structure of Hardwood Lignins

Summary Bauer-McNett fractions of an aspen chemi-thermomechanical pulp showed a significant variation with respect to lignin content and sugar composition, and two of the fractions were found to be particularly rich in middle lamella and secondary wall material, respectively. The secondary wall lignin of aspen was found to contain larger amounts of non-condensed β-O-4 aryl ether structures than the middle lamella lignin and the difference was attributed to a larger amount of syringyl structures as revealed by thioacidolysis. Size exclusion chromatography of the thioacidolysis products from birch and spruce wood showed a larger part of lignin oligomers being present in the degraded spruce lignin. Moreover, birch lignin had a lower phenolic content than both aspen and spruce lignin. Thioacidolysis followed by Raney-nickel desulphuration was used for the analysis of hardwood lignin trimers.