Volume 11 Issue 1
Feb.  2026
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Article Navigation >  Journal of Bioresources and Bioproducts  > 2026  >  11(1): 100226
Jungkyu Kim, Seungoh Jung, Young-Min Cho, In-Gyu Choi, Seunghwan Ko, Sungwan Jeon, Hyo Won Kwak. Benzoylation strategy for enhancing the light stability of kenaf fibers through lignin removal and radical scavenging[J]. Journal of Bioresources and Bioproducts, 2026, 11(1): 100226. doi: 10.1016/j.jobab.2025.11.002
Citation: Jungkyu Kim, Seungoh Jung, Young-Min Cho, In-Gyu Choi, Seunghwan Ko, Sungwan Jeon, Hyo Won Kwak. Benzoylation strategy for enhancing the light stability of kenaf fibers through lignin removal and radical scavenging[J]. Journal of Bioresources and Bioproducts, 2026, 11(1): 100226. doi: 10.1016/j.jobab.2025.11.002
shu

Benzoylation strategy for enhancing the light stability of kenaf fibers through lignin removal and radical scavenging

doi: 10.1016/j.jobab.2025.11.002
  • a.

    Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Bioresources, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826,, Korea

  • b.

    Research Institute of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea

  • c.

    Hyundai Motor Company, Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi-do, Korea

More Information
  • Corresponding author: E-mail address: seunghwanko@hyundai.com (S. Ko); E-mail address: sungwan@hyundai.com (S. Jeon); E-mail address: bk0502@snu.ac.kr (H.W. Kwak)
  • Received Date: 2025-08-20
  • Accepted Date: 2025-11-06
  • Rev Recd Date: 2025-10-31
    • Available Online: 2025-11-25
  • Publish Date: 2026-02-01
    Abstract
  • Enhancing photostability of lignocellulosic fibers is essential for their long-term use in light exposure applications. In this study, benzoylation was applied to kenaf fibers to suppress ultraviolet (UV)-induced yellowing and improve their light fastness. Structural analyses confirmed that esterification of hydroxyl groups and partial removal of lignin were successfully achieved during the benzoylation reaction. After 500 h of UV irradiation, benzoylated kenaf (BKF) showed a distinct whitening phenomenon, in contrast to the gradual yellowing of unmodified kenaf. This whitening effect was attributed to the initial photostabilization, and the discoloration was characterized by a plateau after the initial 48 h. The results confirmed that BKF effectively inhibited the formation of light-induced free radicals and mitigated subsequent surface oxidation. In the component-specific study, lignin was identified as the primary contributor to yellowing. In addition, the photobleaching behavior of benzoylated hemicellulose closely mirrored that of BKF, suggesting its pivotal role in the whitening effect observed in BKF. These results demonstrated that the photostability of natural fibers can be effectively improved through benzoylation by removing chromophore-forming lignin and introducing aromatic ester groups that mitigate radical propagation and oxidative degradation.

     

    • Author contributions
    Investigation: Jungkyu Kim, Seungoh Jung, Young-Min Cho, Seunghwan Ko. Data curation: Jungkyu Kim, Seungoh Jung. Writing-original draft: Jungkyu Kim, Hyo Won Kwak. visualization: Seungoh Jung. Validation: In-Gyu Choi. Writing-review and editing: In-Gyu Choi, Hyo Won Kwak. Conceptualization: Seunghwan Ko, Sungwan Jeon, Hyo Won Kwak. Methodology: Seunghwan Ko. Project administration: Sungwan Jeon, Hyo Won Kwak. Data curation: Sungwan Jeon. Supervision: Hyo Won Kwak.
    Data availability
    Data available on request from the authors.
    Declaration of competing interest
    The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
    Supplementary materials
    Supplementary material associated with this article can be found, in the online version, at doi:10.1016/j.jobab.2025.11.002.
    ✩ Peer review under the responsibility of Editorial Office of Journal of Bioresources and Bioproducts.
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