• Boerjan, Wout
• Ralph, John
• Brunow, Gösta

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Lignins, complex and irregular polymers present in the cell walls of vascular plants, are built from three basic monolignols. An understanding of their nature is evolving as a result of detailed structural investigations aided by improvements in analytical methodologies and the availability of mutant and transgenic plants. Oxidative phenolic coupling reactions, where monomers primarily couple endwise with the growing chain, generate the polymer. The combinatorial linkage synthesis, the random generation of new optical centres each time a monolignol couples via its sidechain, and the inclusion of monomers other than the monolignols, cascade to create polymers with enormous variation in primary structure. Lignification is a strategic process that has evolved to allow plants considerable flexibility in dealing with various environmental stresses. The malleability offers significant opportunities to engineer the structures of lignins beyond the limits explored to date.</jats:p>

Topics

• impedance spectroscopy
• polymer
• inclusion
• lignin
• random