Lignocellulose, as the most abundant organic matter in the natural world, is a promising substance for the production of chemical precursors of biopolymers and biomaterials. However, lignocellulose is complicated in structure on multiple scales. The cell wall recalcitrance to microbial and enzymatic degradation of its structural polysaccharides has become an important limitation to the efficient conversion of lignocellulose. Thus, it is necessary to understand the mechanisms of biomass recalcitrance and develop novel processes to promote the efficiency of lignocellulose conversion to chemicals and biopolymers.

Currently, the deconstruction of lignocellulose structure for efficient conversion is still facing various challenges. The main issues to be addressed include, but are not limited to: the ultramicroscopic structure of the cell wall and its effects on the subsequent processing; efficient pre-treatment to deconstruct the cell wall structure for bioconversion of cellulose; production of precursors for biopolymers with high efficiency; novel functional materials derived from lignin or lignin-derived chemicals; and the integrated process for biomaterials production from lignocellulosic biomass with energy and economic feasibility.

This Special Issue is focussed on the recent innovative studies on the molecular mechanisms of biomass recalcitrance and novel processes for biomass fractionation, as well as the conversion of cell wall polymeric components including cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin into various valuable chemical products and biomaterials. Relevant original research and review articles are welcome. Works addressing the development in this field with multi-disciplinary approaches are especially encouraged.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Structure of the lignocellulosic cell wall, and novel methods to characterize the cell wall structure and determine the porosity at multi-scales
• Fractionation of lignocellulose and characterization of the isolated components
• Novel pre-treatment process for improving polysaccharides accessibility and mechanisms
• Modification of fractionated lignocellulose or polymeric components for the production of bio-based materials
• Cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin derived platform chemical precursors for the production of bio-based polymers, such as PLA, PEF, PBS, etc.
• Lignin as a polymer substitute to obtain new functional materials