Enhanced Solubility of Lignin Monomeric Model Compounds and Technical Lignins in Aqueous Solutions of Deep Eutectic Solvents

The solubilities of lignin monomeric model compounds and technical lignins (organosolv and kraft) in aqueous solutions of several deep eutectic solvents (DES) were here investigated. The effects of DES components, temperature and concentration, were evaluated. The results show aqueous solutions of DES to be a new class of powerful solvents where both the hydrogen bond donor and the hydrogen bond acceptor synergistically contribute to increase the solubility of the lignin model compounds, being the dispersive interactions with lignin the driving force behind the good performance of DES. The solubility of the model compounds is shown to be a good guide for the selection of the best DES for technical lignins solubility, leading to identifying an aqueous solution of DES allowing a solubility enhancement of 1181.7 ± 29.2 and 228.5 ± 9.7 times for kraft and organosolv lignin, respectively. The results indicate that the solubility of the technical lignins and their monomers in DES aqueous solutions is driven by a hydrotropic mechanism, here confirmed by dynamic light scattering that is here observed for the first time with DES as hydrotropes.