Lignin-based covalent organic polymers with improved crystallinity for non-targeted analysis of chemical hazards in food samples

Lignin, the most abundant source of renewable aromatic compounds derived from natural lignocellulosic biomass, has great potential for various applications as green materials due to its abundant active groups. However, it is still challenging to quickly construct green polymers with a certain crystallinity by utilizing lignin as a building block. Herein, new green lignin-based covalent organic polymers (LIGOPD-COPs) were one-pot fabricated with water as the reaction solvent and natural lignin as the raw material. Furthermore, by using paraformaldehyde as a protector and modulator, the LIGOPD-COPs prepared under optimized conditions dis-played better crystallinity than reported lignin-based polymers, demonstrating the feasibility of preparing lignin -based polymers with improved crystallinity. The improved crystallinity confers LIGOPD-COPs with enhanced application performance, which was demonstrated by their excellent performances in sample treatment of non -targeted food safety analysis. Under optimized conditions, phytochromes, the main interfering matrices, were almost completely removed from different phytochromes-rich vegetables by LIGOPD-COPs, accompanied by full recovery of 90 chemical hazards. Green, low-cost, and reusable properties, together with improved crystallinity, will accelerate the industrialization and marketization of lignin-based COPs, and promote their applications in many fields.

Automated summary

In this study, a new type of green lignin-based covalent organic polymers (LIGOPD-COPs) were successfully fabricated with lignin and water as the raw material and reaction solvent, respectively. The LIGOPD-COPs exhibited improved crystallinity compared to previous lignin-based polymers, leading to enhanced application performance in non-targeted food safety analysis.