Chemometrics: An Important Tool for the Modern Chemist, an Example from Wood-Processing Chemistry

This study briefly outlines the idea of principal component analysis and cross-correlation calculations (applied chemometrics) and presents an illustrative example from wood-processing chemistry. The applicability of chemometric data analysis was demonstrated by investigating the various structural changes that take place in dissolved and degraded lignin ("kraft lignin") during laboratory-scale kraft pulping of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) and silver birch (Betula pendula). The structural data (^P NMR and size exclusion chromatographic data) on kraft lignin were further processed by chemometric multivariate techniques (PCA and 2DCC), confirming, for example, that the cleavage of beta-aryl ether structures, the most prominent linkages between monomeric units, is directly related to the decrease in the average molecular mass of lignin.