Ionic really

Dead wood is abundant. Indeed chemists are already looking to the woody parts of plants that end up as agricultural waste as potential biofuels and as an alternative source of industrial chemicals from oil. But it’s not that easy, or is it?

Wood is made up of the polysaccharides cellulose and hemicellulose surrounded by the highly branched polymer, lignin. Lignin bonds to carbohydrates in the plant, and crosslinks to the polysaccharides. All in all, this is what makes wood tough and rigid. And herein lies the problem.