Novel compounds of wood cell walls

Wood constitutes the largest terrestrial reservoir of assimilated carbon that can be used in sustainable way, stimulating research on expanding the portfolio of new products from wood. This requires an in-depth understanding of the wood composition and nano-structure. We have recently discovered the presence of previously unnoticed lipophilic compounds in wood cell walls.

This exciting finding prompts the research project aiming at characterization of these compounds, developing methods for their efficient extraction, identifying their biosynthetic pathways and their molecular interactions in cell wall.

We will do this by utilizing genetic and analytical resources available in our lab and through collaborations with Swedish Metabolomics Centre and Swedish NMR Centre.

The project will lay grounds for developing new products from wood and devising more efficient ways than currently available, to circumvent problems caused by lipophilic compounds in pulp mills.