(578a) Producing a Portfolio of Commodity Chemicals from Lignin Bound P-Hydroxybenzoate

Finding abundant renewable sources for common commodity chemicals and pharmaceuticals is one of the great challenges of the day. One potential chemical is p-hydroxybenzoic acid which is found in Salicaceae trees (e.g., poplar, willow, aspen, and cottonwood) and in Arecaceae (e.g., oil palm and date palms) and can be up to 3wt% of the woody biomass. Though a commodity chemical on its own, p-hydroxybenzoic acid can be converted to a portfolio of high value commodity chemicals that are precursors to textiles, pigments, resins, and biodegradable plastics. We constrained our process to fit the following criteria, 1) Start from woody biomass or isolated lignin. 3) Produce 4-aminophenol and paracetamol in high yield. 3) Utilize inexpensive isolation and purification techniques. and 4) Produce a pure colorless solid product. Here in we will report our progress on developing a three-step process for the making paracetamol from lignin bound p-hydroxybenzoates via the Hoffman rearrangement. We cover some of the issues associated with the process and our strategies to address those challenges.