Lignin is the most abundant source of aromatics on Earth. Due to its complex structure, science and industry have been striving for decades to discover ways to convert it into basic chemicals or to value-added products by its modification and functionalisation. To explore the chemistry of lignin, various model compounds – vanillin, acetovanillone, catechol and resorcinol – were studied in this master's thesis. Kinetic models were established to describe the dependence on pH and temperature, effectively characterizing the oxidation of the model compounds under basic mild conditions. It was found that the oxidation rates of protonated and deprotonated species differ significantly. The comparison of the reactivity of these model compounds can serve as a springboard for further experiments in lignin functionalisation.
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