Selective utilization of formaldehyde stabilizing additive and methoxy groups in lignin for the production of high-carbon-number arenes

Many strategies have been proposed to produce arenes from lignin as liquid fuel additives. However, the development of these methods is limited by the low yield of products, low atom utilization, and inefficient lignin depolymerization. Herein, we develop an energy-efficient synthetic method for the production of high-carbon-number arenes from sustainable lignin with a total yield of 23.1 wt%. Particularly, high carbon number arenes are obtained by fully utilizing the formaldehyde stabilizing additive and the methoxy group in lignin. The process begins with the reductive depolymerization of formaldehyde-stabilized lignin, followed by transmethylation between lignin monomers over Au/Nb 2 O 5 catalyst, and the Ru/Nb 2 O 5 -catalyzed hydrodeoxygenation. This work demonstrates the potential of value-added arenes production directly from lignin.