Sequential aqueous acetone fractionation and characterization of Brauns native lignin separated from Chinese quince fruit

Xi-Chuang Cheng; Xin-Ran Guo; Zhao Qin; Hua-Min Liu; Jing-Ren He; Xue-De Wang

doi:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2021.12.114

Sequential aqueous acetone fractionation and characterization of Brauns native lignin separated from Chinese quince fruit

Int J Biol Macromol. 2022 Mar 15:201:67-74. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2021.12.114. Epub 2022 Jan 4.

Authors

Xi-Chuang Cheng¹, Xin-Ran Guo², Zhao Qin³, Hua-Min Liu⁴, Jing-Ren He⁵, Xue-De Wang¹

Affiliations

¹ College of Food Science and Technology, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou 450001, China; Institute of Special Oilseed Processing and Technology, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou 450001, China.
² School of International Education, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou 450001, China.
³ College of Food Science and Technology, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou 450001, China; Institute of Special Oilseed Processing and Technology, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou 450001, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁴ College of Food Science and Technology, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou 450001, China; Institute of Special Oilseed Processing and Technology, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou 450001, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁵ National R&D Center for Se-rich Agricultural Products Processing, Hubei Engineering Research Center for Deep Processing of Green Se-rich Agricultural Products, School of Modern Industry for Selenium Science and Engineering, Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan 430023, China; Key Laboratory for Deep Processing of Major Grain and Oil, Ministry of Education, Hubei Key Laboratory for Processing and Transformation of Agricultural Products, Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan 430023, China.

PMID: 34995661
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2021.12.114

Abstract

Lignin, especially Brauns native lignin (BNL), from Chinese quince (Chaenomeles sinensis) fruit represents a potential source of natural antioxidants. However, the highly inhomogeneous structure and the carbohydrate impurity reduce the antioxidant properties of BNL. Accordingly, a sequential aqueous acetone fractionation was used to prepare pure lignin fractions with homogeneous molecular structures; these fractions showed strong antioxidant properties. Analytical results showed that the yields of F_50% and F_60% exceeded 20% (i.e., 20.6% and 24.1%, respectively). The sugar impurities in BNL were mainly retained in the F_30% and F_40% fractions. For all fractions, molecular weight increased as the acetone concentration increased. The results from 2D HSQC NMR and ³¹P NMR indicated that the number of lignin linkages (β-O-4', β-β' and β-5') and functional groups (S-OH, G-OH, H-OH, and COOH) of these fractions varied with their molecular weights. Antioxidant assays showed that F_40%, F_50% and F_60% had higher antioxidant properties than BNL. Overall, the study provides a simple, environmentally friendly fractionation method to prepare lignin with various structural features and strong antioxidant properties from Chinese quince fruit. These lignin fractions have promising application in some fields with high value, such as antioxidants production, biomaterials, packaging materials, and drug delivery and so on.

Keywords: Brauns native lignin; Chinese quince fruit; Fractionation.

MeSH terms

Acetone
China
Fruit / chemistry
Lignin* / chemistry
Molecular Structure
Rosaceae* / chemistry

Substances

Acetone
Lignin