Acylated lignins with substituents consisting of different lengths of carbon chains were prepared by a mechanical activation-assisted solid phase synthesis (MASPS) technology with a customized stirring ball mill as a reactor. The structures and properties were analyzed by UV/Vis, FTIR, NMR, SEM, DSC, and TG. The results showed that the acylated lignins were successfully prepared with either non-cyclic or cyclic anhydrides as the acylating agents. Both aliphatic hydroxyl and phenolic hydroxyl groups of lignin reacted with non-cyclic anhydrides, and different reactivity of acylating agents resulted in different relative contents of phenolic and aliphatic substituents in the products. The reactivity of the cyclic anhydrides was weaker than that of the non-cyclic anhydrides, and the reactivity of the acylating agents decreased with increasing carbon chain length and unsaturated bonds of acyl groups. All of the acylated lignins except maleylated lignin had a lower glass transition temperature (Tg) than the original lignin. The acylated lignins prepared with non-cyclic anhydrides had better thermal stability than original lignin, and the thermal stability increased, but Tg decreased with an increasing chain length of the acyl groups. The acylated lignins prepared with cyclic anhydrides had higher a Tg than those with non-cyclic anhydrides with the same carbon number, and the thermal stability was not obviously improved.
Keywords: acylation; lignin; mechanical activation; solid phase synthesis.