Dear Colleagues,

Lignocellulosic biomass is one of the most promising feedstocks for the production of fuels, chemicals, and materials as an alternative to fossil resources due to its abundance, renewability, biodegradability, and cost efficiency. The use of such an eco-friendly lignocellulosic biomass and its chemical components (cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin) in modern-day scenarios is continuing to increase.

Lignin, an aromatic plant polymer, along with its associated compounds, such as lignin–carbohydrate complex compounds (LCCs) and lignin–tricin compounds, is one of the most appealing renewable material precursors for materials, phenolic compounds, and fuels, which can be used as sensors, photocatalysts, biomedical systems, etc. However, due to its complex structure and heterogeneity, high value-added valorization of lignin is still challenging. Several concerns must be addressed in lignin application. Firstly, the influence of biomass sources and isolation processes on lignin amount, structure, and properties should be uncovered. As is well known, the structure of lignin can easily be changed or modified during isolation procedures. How to isolate lignin from biomass sources with uniform and high purity is important to benchmarking their performance. Secondly, basic structure–property relationships in lignin-based materials or lignin-derived chemicals need to be discussed toward high-performance applications. It is noted that although many lignin-based materials or chemicals have been developed, certain properties, such as mechanical strength/monomer yields, are far from satisfactory. Thirdly, the exploitation of lignin for the large-scale production of chemicals and materials is attractive but difficult to achieve.

Therefore, this Special Issue welcomes experimental studies and excellent in-depth reviews focusing their attention on isolating high-purity and uniform lignin and making new materials and chemicals from lignin and its associated compounds for the benefit of society. Topics include isolation/fractionation and characterization of lignin streams derived from new treatment; lignin structure–property relationships of composite materials and chemicals; potential large-scale applications of lignin, such as lignin-based adhesives used for the production of eco-friendly wood composite materials; other composites from lignin associated compounds.

Dr. Tingting You
Prof. Dr. Feng Xu
Guest Editors

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• lignin and its associated compounds
• isolation and fractionation
• composite materials
• chemicals
• structure–property relationship
• potential large-scale applications