Convergent reductive depolymerization of wood lignin to isolated phenol derivatives by metal-free catalytic hydrosilylation

摘要: The first examples of reductive depolymerization of lignin are reported under metal-free conditions. Using hydrosilanes as reductants and B (C6F5) 3 as a Lewis acid catalyst, wood lignin is efficiently converted to a narrow distribution of phenol derivatives at room temperature. A three-step methodology based on the selection of the wood species and the lignin extraction method followed by a convergent reductive depolymerization enables the production of four structurally defined aromatic compounds. The phenol products were …