Results and Publications

Research Areas & Activities Solar Energy Biomass Energy Sythesis of Biofuels on Bioelectrodes Capturing Electrical Current via Microbes to Produce Methane Efficient, Highly Productive Hydrogen Production from Glucose Novel Mutants Optimized for Lignin, Growth and Biofuel Production via Re-Mutagenesis The Climate-Protective Domain Efficient Biomass Conversion: Delineating the Best Lignin Monomer-Substitutes Assembly of a Lignin Modification Toolbox Towards New Degradable Lignin Types Microbial Synthesis of Biodiesel Directed Evolution of Novel Yeast Species Genetic Engineering of Cellulose Accumulation Hydrogen Advanced Combustion CO₂ Capture CO₂ Storage Advanced Materials & Catalysts Advanced Coal Advanced Transportation Advanced Electric Grid Grid Storage Other Renewables Integrated Assessment Advanced Nuclear Energy Geoengineering Exploratory Efforts All Activities Analysis Activities Technical Reports

Research

Efficient Biomass Conversion: Delineating the Best Lignin Monomer-Substitutes

Start Date: December 2008

Investigators

John Ralph, Xuejun Pan, and Sara Patterson, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Annual Reports

Publications

Zhu, Y., A. Mohammadi, and J. Ralph. "Facile Synthesis of 4-Hydroxycinnamaldehydes." BioEnergy Research 5, no. 2, 407-411 (2012).
Vanholme, R., K. Morreel, C. Darrah, J. H. Grabber, J. Ralph and W. Boerjan. "Phenolic metabolism as a natural resource for the engineering of lignin in feedstocks for biofuels and biomaterials production." New Phytologist (2012).
Ress D. K. and J. Ralph. Synthesis of 3-O-vanillate and 3-O-ferulate esters of (-)-epicatechin. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2012, submitted 8/25/2011; updating with synthetic lignins. "
Grabber, J. H., D. Ress, and J. Ralph. "Identifying new lignin bioengineering targets: impact of epicatechin, quercetin glycoside, and gallate derivatives on the lignification and fermentation of maize cell walls." Journal of agricultural and food chemistry 60, no. 20 (2012): 5152-5160."
Elumalai, S., J. H. Grabber, J. Ralph and X. Pan. Incorporation of epicatechin derivatives into cell walls, and assessment of responses to pretreatment methods and subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis.BioEnergy Research, 2012, in preparation.
Tobimatsu, Y., S. Elumalai, J. H. Grabber, C. L. Davidson, X. Pan, and J. Ralph. “Cover Picture: Hydroxycinnamate Conjugates as Potential Monolignol Replacements: In vitro Lignification and Cell Wall Studies with Rosmarinic Acid.” ChemSusChem, 5: 4, 601, doi: 10.1002/cssc.201290013 (2012).
Ress, D. K., J. H. Grabber, and J. Ralph. “Lignin monomer replacement strategies: Syntheses of (-)-epicatechin ferulate, (-)-epicatechin vanillate, and 1,2-diferuloyl-(L)-tartaric Acid,” (in preparation, 2011).
Elumalai, S., J. H. Grabber, J. Ralph, and X. Pan. “Incorporation of epicatechin derivatives into cell walls, and assessment of responses to pretreatment methods and subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis,” (in preparation, 2011).
Zhu, Y. and J. Ralph. “Stereoselective synthesis of 1-O-β-feruloyl and 1-O-β-sinapoyl glucopyranoses,” European Journal of Organic Chemistry (submitted, March 25, 2011).
Tobimatsu, Y., C. L. Davidson, J. H. Grabber, and J. Ralph. “Fluorescence tagged monolignols: Synthesis and application to studying in vitro lignication,” Biomacromolecules (in press, accepted, March 16, 2011).
Morreel, K., O. Dima, H. Kim, F. Lu, C. Niculaes, R. Vanholme, R. Dauwe, G. Goeminne, D. Inzé, E. Messens, J. Ralph, and W. Boerjan. “Mass spectrometry based sequencing of lignin oligomers,” Plant Physiology, 153, 1464-1478, doi:10.1104/pp.110.156489 (2010).
Vanholme, R., K. Morreel, J. Ralph, and W. Boerjan. “Lignin biosynthesis and structure.” Plant Physiology, Vol. 153, pp. 895-905, doi:10.1104/pp.110.155119 (2010).
van Parijs, F., K. Morreel, J. Ralph, W. Boerjan, and R. M. H. Merks. “Modeling lignin polymerization. Part 1: simulation model of dehydrogenation polymers.” Plant Physiology, Vol. 153, pp. 1332-1344, doi:10.1104/pp.110.154468 (2010).
Grabber, J. H., P. F. Schatz, H. Kim, F. Lu, and J. Ralph. “Identifying new lignin bioengineering targets: 1. Monolignol substitute impacts on lignin formation and cell wall fermentability.” BMC Plant Biology, 10:114, doi:10.1186/1471-2229-10-114 (2010).
Vanholme, R., J. Ralph, T. Akiyama, F. Lu, J. Rencoret Pazo, J. Christensen, A. Rohde, K. Morreel, R. DeRycke, H. Kim, B. Van Reusel, and W. Boerjan. “Engineering traditional monolignols out of lignins: The effects of concomitant F5H1-up-regulation and COMT-down-regulation in Arabidopsis,” (in final preparation, 2010).

Updated January 2013