Abstract
IN a communication1 prepared and accepted for presentation at the Twelfth International Congress of Pure and Applied Chemistry (New York, Sept. 1951), it is shown that, in the course of the delignification of wood by sodium chlorite buffered at pH 6.3, there is formed and retained in the wood residue (holocellulose) a modification of lignin which is not determined as a solid residue by the 72 per cent sulphuric acid method. The form of lignin is soluble in sulphuric acid. The possible existence of a soluble form of lignin in the acid hydrolysates of woods has been recognized for many years but, until recently, few attempts have been made to isolate it. Von Wacek and Schroth2,3 have emphasized the difficulties involved in such an isolation in view of the presence in wood hydrolysates of acids and sugars in addition to lignin. They show, however, that a substance of high methoxyl content (presumably lignin) can be extracted from spruce holocellulose by means of 24 per cent aqueous potassium hydroxide. This alkaline extract also contains hemicellulose. A somewhat elaborate procedure is outlined whereby the alkaline liquor remaining after removal of the hemicelluloses can be treated with acid and alcohol in such a way as to cause precipitation of the substance of high methoxyl content.
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McDonald, I. R. C., and Campbell, W. G., “Some Observations on the Delignification of Wood by Sodium Chlorite in Buffered Aqueous Solutions”.
Von Wacek, A., and Schroth, D., Das Papier, 4, 410 (1950).
Von Wacek, A., and Schroth, D., Holz ah Roh- und Werkstoff, 9, 7 (1951).
Stumpf, W., and Freudenberg, K., Holz als Roh- und Werkstoff, 9, 199 (1951); from Angew. Chem., 64, 537 (1950).
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McDONALD, I., CAMPBELL, W. Acid-soluble Lignin. Nature 169, 33 (1952). https://doi.org/10.1038/169033b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/169033b0
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