Author
 |
LU, FACHUANG - UNIV OF WISCONSIN-MADISON |
|
Ralph, John |
|
Submitted to: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Publication Acceptance Date: 2/11/1998 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Lignin, the second most abundant land-based natural polymer, occurs in all plants. In the plant, the polymer is built from small natural compounds, coniferyl and sinapyl alcohols. These compounds are required by researchers throughout the world involved in a variety of plant studies. They can be made by a variety of methods, many of which we have developed. However, there are difficulties with all of the preparations which produce, in addition to the desired compounds, unwanted byproducts. The new procedure is based on the recent commercial availability of two compounds, coniferaldehyde and sinapyl aldehyde. Here we describe a rather simple and selective method that takes these aldehyde compounds to the lignin building blocks. It produces the required lignin precursors very cleanly, without any detectable byproducts. The simplicity, and the use of safe and stable compounds for the reaction, makes it useful not only to us but other researchers who, for various reasons, require lignin precursors and may no have synthetic chemistry skills. Such studies are at the heart of efforts to improve agricultural sustainability and maximize our plant resources. Technical Abstract: Coniferyl and sinapyl alcohols are readily and cleanly prepared in excellent yields from commercially available coniferaldehyde and sinapaldehyde by sodium triacetoxyborohydride reduction in ethyl acetate. No 1,4-reduction products, always produced in prior methods, could be detected. |