(439c) In-Situ Study of Native Cellulose Structure in Intact Lignocellulose Biomass and Its Influence On Enzymatic Hydrolysis Process

In order to efficiently convert biomass to other useful chemicals, it is necessary to understand and overcome its recalcitrance to enzymatic deconstruction processes. The first key question involved in the biomass study is the correlation between the enzymatic activity and the cellulose structure. Although many experimental studies have been attempted previously to answer this fundamental question, it still remains elusive. The difficulty is that it requires molecular analysis of crystalline carbohydrate polymers (cellulose) in amorphous matrix containing the same organic functional groups. Current analytical methods cannot provide sufficient details about crystalline cellulose in lignocellulose biomass. In this talk, we will present the recent results from sum-frequency generation (SFG) vibration spectroscopy study of the structure of cellulose in intact lignocellulose biomass and its correlation with enzymatic deconstruction process. The main advantage of the SFG spectroscopy technique is the detection of crystalline cellulose in various biomass samples without spectral interferences from amorphous matrix carbohydrate. Thus, it reveals new molecular insights that cannot be obtainable by other analytical methods.