Structural features of mildly fractionated lignin carbohydrate complexes (LCC) from spruce

A protocol for the quantitative fractionation of lignin carbohydrate complexes (LCC) from wood under mild conditions has been developed. All operations occur at near-neutral pH conditions and low temperatures, in order to preserve the native structure. The protocol also achieved the fractionation of hemicelluloses of relatively high purity enabling for the first time estimates of hemicelluloses fractions not chemically bound to lignin in wood. 2D HSQC NMR was applied to decipher the structure of LCCs and was complemented by thioacidolysis-GC MS techniques. The carbohydrates linked to lignin in LCC are hemicelluloses, mainly arabinoglucuronoxylan (AGX) and galactoglucomannan (GGM). Benzyl ether (BE) and phenyl glycosidic (PG) linkages were detected. Significant structural differences in the lignin part of LCCs are also reported. The novelty of this work is that we report the first quantitative pH neutral protocol for LCC fractionation and detailed chemical analyses unveil important structural differences of relevance to fundamental knowledge in lignin polymerization and wood-based biorefineries.