(German title: Katalyse im Zentrum nachhaltiger Verfahren der Chemie)

The processes currently used to manufacture chemical-technical products from raw materials containing lignocellulose, such as wood, are almost exclusively geared towards the production of pulp and focus less on the complete utilization of all ingredients. In particular, the lignin resulting from current processes is only insufficiently utilized (e.g. energy generation through incineration). Alongside cellulose, lignin is the main component of wood and is therefore a raw material that is available in large quantities. Lignin is essentially formed under natural conditions by radical polymerization of coumaryl, coniferyl and sinapyl alcohols. This produces a network of C-O and C-C linked building blocks, making lignin one of the most important biopolymers. Bioprocess engineering methods are used to achieve efficient utilization of lignin. Selective oxidation reactions that oxidize aliphatic OH groups and lead to ether cleavage are part of these methods. In this way, the lignin structure can be selectively attacked and degraded, resulting in hydroxylated and methoxylated aromatics (e.g. vanillin), which are of great interest as valuable starting compounds for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries.

Various enzymes from the group of laccases and peroxidases (manganese peroxidase, lignin peroxidase) are able to either oxidatively degrade lignin or polymerize it in a radical reaction. In addition, various fungi from the group of basidiomycetes can be used to metabolize lignin. In cooperation with the working groups (AG Thiel, AG Hartung, AG Ernst, FB Chemie, TU Kaiserslautern) from the chemistry department, chemical catalysts are to be investigated to determine the extent to which the combinations with enzyme systems are suitable for breaking down the correspondingly activated lignin into its monomers. The resulting lignin fragments will be analyzed using MALDI-MS and NMR.