From sugars to aliphatic amines: as sweet as it sounds? Production and applications of bio-based aliphatic amines.

Aliphatic amines encompass a diverse group of amines that include alkylamines, alkyl polyamines, alkanolamines and aliphatic heterocyclic amines. Their structural diversity and distinctive characteristics position them as indispensable components across multiple industrial domains, ranging from chemistry and technology to agriculture and medicine. Currently, the industrial production of aliphatic amines is facing pressing sustainability, health and safety issues which all arise due to the strong dependency on fossil feedstock. Interestingly, these issues can be fundamentally resolved by shifting toward biomass as the feedstock. In this regard, cellulose and hemicellulose, the carbohydrate fraction of lignocellulose, emerge as promising feedstock for the production of aliphatic amines as they are available in abundance, safe to use and their aliphatic backbone is susceptible to chemical transformations. Consequently, the academic interest in bio-based aliphatic amines via the catalytic reductive amination of (hemi)cellulose-derived substrates has systematically increased over the past years. From an industrial perspective, however, the production of bio-based aliphatic amines will only be the middle part of a larger, ideally circular, value chain. This value chain additionally includes, as the first part, the refinery of the biomass feedstock to suitable substrates and, as the final part, the implementation of these aliphatic amines in various applications. Each part of the bio-based aliphatic amine value chain will be covered in this Review. Applying a holistic perspective enables one to acknowledge the requirements and limitations of each part and to efficiently spot and potentially bridge knowledge gaps between the different parts.

Cellulose-Based Photothermal Coating: A Sustainable Solution for Seed Protection and Long-Term Grain Storage.

High-output modern agriculture based on synthetic chemicals (biocides, pesticides, and fertilizers) feeds the growing global population. To completely abandon the use of pesticides and fertilizers will undoubtedly cause a severe food crisis worldwide, and sustainable alternative solutions are urgently demanded to stop biocides and fertilizers overuse. Herein, a versatile and green strategy is proposed for seed protection and long-term storage of grains using a cellulose-based photothermal coating (PDA NPs@Cell-N+) that consists of photothermal polydopamine nanoparticles (PDA NPs) and a positive-charged cellulose derivative (Cell-N+) to eradicate seed-borne bacteria and fungi simply under infrared irradiation. In vitro and in vivo assays and the seedling-stage phenotypes of mung bean (Vigna radiata) suggest that pathogenic microbes, including the tough Aspergillus flavus (inhibition ratio >99%), can be efficiently eliminated by photothermal therapy. Thus, the seed-borne diseases of mung beans can finally be prevented. Owing to excellent solubility and biocompatibility, the PDA NPs@Cell-N+ coating can be washed off and recycled without food safety concerns. PDA NPs@Cell-N+ can be a nature-based solution for seed protection and long-term grain storage.

Low molecular weight and highly functional RCF lignin products as a full bisphenol a replacer in bio-based epoxy resins.

Herein, we present a full lignocellulose-to-chemicals valorization chain, wherein low molecular weight and highly functional lignin oligomers, obtained from reductive catalytic fractionation (RCF) of pine wood, were used to fully replace bisphenol A (BPA) for synthesizing bio-based epoxy resins.