Chemical Modification of Lignin: A Step Toward Synthesis of Polyol

In the recent decades, many articles have been published on the development of lignin and mostly related to the chemical modification of lignin.The direct use of lignin often leads to the synthesis and production of low-value added materials. Hence, chemical modification of lignin not only increases its activity in the reactions but also represents a fine dispersion in the polymer materials. Chemical structure of lignin contains phenyl propane units, originating from three aromatic alcohol precursors of p-coumaryl alcohol, coniferyl alcohol and sinapyl alcohol. The main uses of lignin can be classified into two different methods. In the first method, without chemical modification, lignin is directly incorporated into a polymer matrix to give new or improved properties. In the second method, a large range of polymer materials is synthesized via chemical modification of the lignin. Chemical modification of the lignin has been studied frequently for various purposes. Lignin modification through reaction with formaldehyde, epichlorohydrin, phenol, propylene oxide, propylene carbonate, polyethylene glycol and synthesis of lignin-based copolymers are among reactions studied in the literature. However, this article has been restricted to the discussion on chemical modification of lignin and its use as a source of monomer in the polymerization process.