High value valorization of lignin as environmental benign antimicrobial

• Published in: Materials today bio Vol. 18; p. 100520
• Main Authors: Chen, Mingjie, Li, Yan, Liu, Huiming, Zhang, Dandan, Shi, Qing-Shan, Zhong, Xin-Qi, Guo, Yanzhu, Xie, Xiao-Bao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.02.2023; Elsevier
• Subjects: Antimicrobial; Isolation; Lignin; Modification; Polyphenols; Review; Antimicrobial; Polyphenols; Lignin; Modification; Isolation
• ISSN: 2590-0064; 2590-0064
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mtbio.2022.100520

Lignin is a natural aromatic polymer of p-hydroxyphenylpropanoids with various biological activities. Noticeably, plants have made use of lignin as biocides to defend themselves from pathogen microbial invasions. Thus, the use of isolated lignin as environmentally benign antimicrobial is believed to be a promising high value approach for lignin valorization. On the other hand, as green and sustainable product of plant photosynthesis, lignin should be beneficial to reduce the carbon footprint of antimicrobial industry. There have been many reports that make use of lignin to prepare antimicrobials for different applications. However, lignin is highly heterogeneous polymers different in their monomers, linkages, molecular weight, and functional groups. The structure and property relationship, and the mechanism of action of lignin as antimicrobial remains ambiguous. To show light on these issues, we reviewed the publications on lignin chemistry, antimicrobial activity of lignin models and isolated lignin and associated mechanism of actions, approaches in synthesis of lignin with improved antimicrobial activity, and the applications of lignin as antimicrobial in different fields. Hopefully, this review will help and inspire researchers in the preparation of lignin antimicrobial for their applications. [Display omitted] •Lignin was described with monomer, linkages, molecular weight, and functional groups.•Antimicrobial activity of lignin was related to chemical descriptors of its structure.•Interactions with cell membrane, and cytoplasm are the two models of mechanism of action.•Tailoring the chemical parameters improves antimicrobial activity of lignin.•Lignin has found important applications in a wide range of fields.