Complicating matters, lignin, with its characteristic aromatic functional groups, tends to fluoresce. SEC-MALS using the standard red laser (λ = 660 nm) is not ideal for most lignin samples ...

Professor Bugg's research group is working on one of the unsolved problems of the biorefinery: how to convert the aromatic polymer lignin into useful chemicals. Lignin is very hard to break down, but ...

And lignin is the only renewable source of aromatic compounds, which are chemically similar to molecules found in ...