国際木質材料化学 (IPADS Wood Material Chemistry)

There is a growing demand for the effective use of plant resources such as agricultural and forestry residues as an alternative to fossil resources. Surprisingly, there are still many unknown components in these plant materials. For example, bark contains some major components whose chemical structures are unknown, having been given provisional component names in the 1950s and remaining largely untouched since then. Against this background, it is becoming increasingly important to elucidate the characteristics of underutilized plants as biomass feedstocks (raw material properties, chemical structure and reactivity) and to pave the way for the development of effective utilization methods for plant resources.
This lecture introduces the principles of biosynthesis, chemical structure and analytical methods of lignin, a major component of plant cell walls. Lignin will be used as a representative example of a natural polymer with a complex chemical structure, which will be explained and discussed. The goal of the lecture is to understand the principles of analytical methods common to the study of the chemical structure of various natural polymers, and through this to develop a way of thinking to approach unsolved problems related to chemical structure. Students will be given time to read and study related papers and present the main points.