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Lignophenol
The Ultimate Eco-friendly, Multi-functional Material
One of the promising energy and material sources of the post
MIHO KAWASAKI
petroleum age is plant-derived biomass. This article looks at the
research of Mie University professor Masamitsu Funaoka, whose
research produced the new reusable material lignophenol from
Professor Masamitsu Funaoka
T
the organic material lignin found in trees. Miho Kawasaki reports. with a vial of his lignophenol
The Jomon Sugi, a large cedar tree located being from the time it sprouts and grows large
on Yakushima island, is thousands of years old. into a tree until it withers and dies. However,
Horyu-ji, a Buddhist temple in Nara Prefecture trees also have a photosynthesis system for pull-
built from wood, has maintained its original ing in CO2 from the air, so if you think of them
shape for over 1,000 years. The reason that wood, being a gigantic conjugate of precisely arranged
even after being cut, can maintain its shape for microscopic molecules, you can see they have
long periods is the organic molecule of lignin, another life cycle. That is, whether they are cut
which is contained in a trees cells, explains Mie down and processed, or after they wither and
Universitys Faculty of Bioresources Professor die, over the next hundreds or thousands of
Masamitsu Funaoka, who for many years has years, an amazing length of time, their state
been examining the ways in which forest re- changes at a molecular level, and they ultimately
sources can be put to sustained use. turn back into carbon dioxide. Petroleum and
Of the organic molecules contained in tree coal are very close to the final stage of carbon di-
cell walls, 70% are cellulose and hemicellulose, oxide. If the timber resources which contain lig-
which are plant fibers used for making paper, nin are put to good use, then they can be instru-
and 30% are lignin. Unlike the versatile cellu- mental in the post petroleum age.
lose, which is used as pulp and other products, Many researchers in the past have thought
an effective use for lignin was long undiscov- that lignin could be useful, but in order to extract
ered, so it was almost always discarded. lignin from wood, they used reactions with strong
Professor Funaoka says, It must be a sub- acids or alkalis, or applied high temperatures.
stance with incredible power, if it has survived However, it was a series of failures because this
on Earth for several hundred million years, often resulted in serious alteration of the lignin.
through environmental changes and natural se- Its a substance which was originally meant
lection. I always thought it was such a waste to to protect the tree by adapting to changes in
treat lignin like a nuisance and throw it away. weather and temperature, so by applying acids
In general, the life of a tree is thought of as or alkalis to drastically change its environ-