A study was made of the products formed by
treating brown coal or lignin with concentrated aqueous or ethanolic alkali at
200 �C. With brown coals a major redistribution of the oxygen-containing
functional groups appeared to occur, because the products contained
aliphatically linked carboxyl groups and aliphatic hydroxyl, as well as
phenolic hydroxyl groups. The behaviour of lignin under the same conditions was
less clear but sufficiently similar to that of brown coal to suggest that
reactions of the same type were occurring in both cases.
Reactions involving decarboxylation, ring
scission of dihydric phenol structures, and subsequent hydrogenation are
suggested tentatively as the main steps in the formation of the products.
The results provide some additional
evidence for the view that there is a simple chemical relation between Victorian
brown coal and lignin.