Alkaline aerobic oxidation of native softwood lignin in the presence of Na+-cyclic polyether complexes

Alkaline aerobic oxidation is a promising way to convert lignin to low molecular weight phenols, especially 4-hydroxybenzaldehydes. Our previous studies reported that oxidation of softwood lignin samples with a bulky cation, Bu4N+, facilitates selective production of vanillin (4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde). This study presents vanillin production from native softwood lignin in Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) in NaOH aq. in the presence of cyclic polyethers, with our expectation that Na+-polyether complexes exhibit effects similar to those of Bu4N+. Oxidation of wood flour (10 mg) in 4.0 M NaOH aq. (2.0 mL) at 120 degrees C under air gave vanillin with 6.2 wt% lignin-based yield, which was raised to 15.2 wt% by the addition of 15-crown-5 (1,4,7,10,13-pentaoxacyclopentadecane). On the other hand, such effect was not observed with the addition of tetraethylene glycol dimethyl ether, a non-cyclic analog of 15-crown-5. Mechanistic study with a lignin model compound revealed that stabilization of a vanillin precursor by the complex cation was a reason for the increased vanillin yield exhibited by the crown ether. This is similar to the influence of Bu4N+ reported previously, suggesting effective control of aerobic oxidation by large size cationic species.

Automated summary

The study investigated the production of vanillin from native softwood lignin in Japanese cedar using cyclic polyethers in NaOH solution, and found that the addition of 15-crown-5 significantly increased the yield of vanillin, unlike its non-cyclic analog. This suggests effective control of aerobic oxidation by large size cationic species and demonstrates the potential for selective production of vanillin through alkaline aerobic oxidation.