Chemoenzymatical grafting of acrylamide onto lignin.pdf

Journal of Biotechnology 79 (2000) 173–183 Chemoenzymatical grafting of acrylamide onto lignin Carsten Mai *, Oleg Milstein, Aloys Hu?ttermann Institut fu?r Forstbotanik der Uni6ersita?t Go?ttingen, Bu?sgenweg 2, D-37077 Go?ttingen, F.R.G, Germany Received 16 August 1999; received in revised form 15 February 2000; accepted 25 February 2000 Abstract Laccase (E.C..) from white-rot basidiomycete Trametes 6ersicolor and dioxane peroxides were essential in the copolymerization of acrylamide and a derivative with lignin in a dioxane-H2O (7:3) mixture. Both a solubility test and an elemental analysis of the eluted and separated fractions provided evidence of grafting. Gel permeation chromatography on Sephadex G-100 showed that the side chain and the lignin backbone migrate as one unit through the column. Copolymers obtained were characterized by UV-VIS-spectroscopy as well as FT-IR, and 13C-CPMAS- NMR spectroscopy. Freeze-dried copolymers of lignin and acrylamide appeared as homogeneous fibril-like particu- late. The mechanism of the enzymatical grafting is discussed. ? 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Trametes 6ersicolor ; Laccase; Lignin; Acrylamide; Copolymerization /locate/jbiotec 1. Introduction Almost 50×106 tons of the lignin produced annually as a by-product of the pulp and paper industry are burned; only small amounts are used as additives in several industrial processes. A large volume of expensive petrochemicals, of which there is not a long term supply, could be substi- tuted in the production of engineering plastics if an economical way existed to transform lignin into a marketable product. The grafting of lignin with synthetic polymers has the potential of mak- ing the production of a new class of engineering plastics possible (Glasser, 1989) and at the same time enhancing the biodegradability of the result- ing polymer (Milstein et al., 1992, Chen et al., 1996). Current approaches to grafting synthetic polymers onto lignin involve ra