Reducing Cellulose Crystallinity with a Noncellulose-Dissolving Solid Zwitterion and Its Application for Biomass Pretreatment was written by Hachisu, Ayumi;Tobe, Hitomi;Ninomiya, Kazuaki;Takahashi, Kenji;Kuroda, Kosuke. And the article was included in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering in 2022.Category: ethers-buliding-blocks This article mentions the following:
One-pot ethanol production from plant biomass (successive biomass pretreatment, enzymic hydrolysis, and fermentation in a single vessel) is necessary for the practical production of second-generation bioethanol because multipot procedures require large energy inputs. One-pot ethanol production requires low-toxicity cellulose solvents, and liquid zwitterions are the most promising candidates. However, liquid zwitterions have complex synthetic procedures, which significantly increases the energy cost. Here, the applicability of low-toxic simple zwitterions was investigated from the viewpoint of pretreatment ability for one-pot ethanol production In this study, a simple solid noncellulose dissolving zwitterion was able to reduce the crystallinity of microcrystalline cellulose. The pretreatment of cellulose was performed in a zwitterion/water mixture at 100° while removing water. The imidazolium cation and carboxylate anion are key structures for an efficient pretreatment. Cellulose pretreated with the solid zwitterion was susceptible to hydrolysis, and the hydrolysis efficiency was comparable to that of the liquid zwitterion, which dissolves cellulose. The simple solid zwitterion was also effective for biomass pretreatment. The zwitterion delignified as well as reduced crystallinity, resulting in the pretreatment of bagasse. The pretreatment ability for bagasse was comparable to that of liquid zwitterions. In the experiment, the researchers used many compounds, for example, 2-(2-Methoxyethoxy)ethanol (cas: 111-77-3Category: ethers-buliding-blocks).
2-(2-Methoxyethoxy)ethanol (cas: 111-77-3) belongs to ethers. The oxygen atom in ethers are more electronegative than carbon, thus the hydrogens which are alpha to the ethers are more acidic than the simple hydrocarbons. The unique properties of ethers (i.e., that they are strongly polar, with nonbonding electron pairs but no hydroxyl group) enhance the formation and use of many reagents. For example, Grignard reagents cannot form unless an ether is present to share its lone pair of electrons with the magnesium atom. Complexation of the magnesium atom stabilizes the Grignard reagent and helps to keep it in solution.Category: ethers-buliding-blocks
Referemce:
Ether – Wikipedia,
Ether | (C2H5)2O – PubChem