Synthesis and characterization of aminated lignin.

Amination of lignin can bring reactive amino groups onto the natural polymer and enable it to be employed in engineering materials. The amination reaction was successfully implemented after some of the hydroxyl groups on lignin were epoxidized. The resulted products showed a great quantity of primary amine group and secondary amine group which can be used as curing agents of epoxy resin. The results revealed that several factors including reaction temperature and time, as well as ratios of compounds, could influence the epoxidation and amination reactions. The resulted products were characterized by FT-IR spectra, (1)H NMR, (13)C NMR, element analysis, XPS and thermogravimetry analysis.