Publications by Wu Lan | EPFL Graph Search

Selective Production of Syringaldehyde and Vanillin from Acetal-Stabilized Lignin

Jeremy Luterbacher, Jean Thierry C Behaghel de Bueren, Wu Lan

Industrial lignin oxidation has been used for vanillin production but is largely uncontrolled, not fully understood mechanistically, and leads to low yield. Here, we have demonstrated high-efficiency vanillin and syringaldehyde production from lignin via g ...

American Chemical Society (ACS)2025

Continuous hydrogenolysis of acetal-stabilized lignin in flow

Jeremy Luterbacher, Songlan Sun, Jean Thierry C Behaghel de Bueren, Florent Emmanuel Héroguel, Yuan-Peng Du, Wu Lan

Using acetal-stabilized lignin we performed a truly steady state continuous high-yielding lignin depolymerization (45% monophenolics using Ni/C), which offered a window into challenges and opportunities that will be faced when processing this feedstock. Wi ...

2021

Highly Selective Oxidation and Depolymerization of α,γ-Diol Protected Lignin

Jeremy Luterbacher, Wu Lan, Jean Thierry C Behaghel de Bueren

Lignin oxidation offers a potential sustainable pathway to oxygenated aromatic molecules. However, current methods that use real lignin tend to have low selectivity and a yield that is limited by lignin degradation during its extraction. We developed stoic ...

Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH2019

A Road to Profitability from Lignin via the Production of Bioactive Molecules

Jeremy Luterbacher, Wu Lan

2019

Corncob Biorefinery for Platform Chemicals and Lignin Coproduction: Metal Chlorides as Catalysts

Wu Lan

A facile approach to a corncob biorefinery, focusing on both carbohydrate valorization and lignin stabilization, was proposed to coproduce platform chemicals (glucose, xylose, arabinose, and furfural) and lignin. Different metal chloride prehydrolyses of c ...

AMER CHEMICAL SOC2019

Preventing Lignin Condensation to Facilitate Aromatic Monomer Production

Jeremy Luterbacher, Wu Lan

Lignin is the most abundant aromatic polymer in nature and as such is an attractive source of aromatic molecules. Efficient lignin utilization will also likely play a key role in the economic success and sustainability of biomass valorization schemes. Howe ...

2019

OsCAldOMT1 is a bifunctional O-methyltransferase involved in the biosynthesis of tricin-lignins in rice cell walls

Wu Lan

Lignin is a phenylpropanoid polymer produced in the secondary cell walls of vascular plants. Although most eudicot and gymnosperm species generate lignins solely via polymerization of p-hydroxycinnamyl alcohols (monolignols), grasses additionally use a fla ...

Nature Research2019

Topology of Pretreated Wood Fibers Using Dynamic Nuclear Polarization

David Lyndon Emsley, Jeremy Luterbacher, Arthur César Pinon, Pierrick Berruyer, Jasmine Viger-Gravel, Wu Lan, Michel Bardet

In the continuously developing field of lignocellulosic biomass, high-yield lignin depolymerization processes are sought to optimize its productivity and profitability. Recently, formaldehyde stabilization during lignin extraction and biomass pretreatment ...

2019

Protection Group Effects During α,γ-Diol Lignin Stabilization Promote High-Selectivity Monomer Production

Jeremy Luterbacher, Wu Lan, Masoud Talebi Amiri, Christopher Marc Hunston

Protection groups were introduced during biomass pretreatment to stabilize lignin's α,γ-diol group during its extraction and prevent its condensation. Acetaldehyde and propionaldehyde stabilized the α,γ-diol without any aromatic ring alkylation, which sign ...

Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH2018