CHARACTERIZATION OF THE ETHANOL-SOLUBLE FRACTIONS OF BAMBOO: EFFECT OF ULTRASONIC IRRADIATION ON THE DISSOLUTION OF LIGNIN

摘要

Bamboo (Neosinocalamus affinis) was subjected to ultrasound-assisted extraction in aqueous ethanol to evaluate the effect of ultrasonic irradiation on the dissolution of lignin. In this case, the dewaxed bamboo culms were ball-milled for 48 h, and then were dispersed in 95% ethanol followed by ultrasonic irradiations for varied times (0, 5, 15, 25, 35, 50 min) at 20 °C to obtain the ethanol-soluble fractions. The structural and thermal properties of the ethanol-soluble fractions were comparatively investigated by a combination of chemical and instrumental analysis including alkaline nitrobenzene oxidation, carbohydrate components analysis, FT-IR spectra, HSQC spectra, TG, and DTA, etc. The results showed that the yields of the ethanol-soluble fractions were between 4.29% and 4.76% for the fractions prepared with ultrasonic irradiation time ranging from 5 to 55 min, as compared to 4.02% for the fraction prepared without ultrasonic irradiation. It was found that the lignin content of the fraction increased with the increase of the ultrasonic irradiation time. Alkaline nitrobenzene oxidation coupled with HSQC analysis indicated that the lignin in the fractions was mainly composed of G S H type units as well as minor amounts of ferulic acids. In addition, the fraction prepared with ultrasonic irradiation exhibited a slightly higher thermal stability as compared to the fraction prepared without ultrasonic irradiation.