A Review: Depolymerization of Lignin to Generate High-Value Bio-Products: Opportunities, Challenges, and Prospects

Lignin is identified as a promising candidate in renewable energy and bioproduct manufacturing due to its high abundance, polymeric structure, and biochemical properties of monomers. Thus, emerging opportunities exist in generating high-value small molecules from lignin through depolymerization. This review aims at providing an overview of the major technologies of lignin depolymerization. The feasibility of large-scale implementation of these technologies, including thermal, biological, and chemical depolymerizations, are discussed in relation to potential industrial applications. Lignin as a renewable alternative to petroleum-based chemicals has been well documented. This review attempts to emphasize potential applications of lignin-derived monomers and their derivatives as bioactives in food, natural health product, and pharmaceutical sectors. The critical review of the prospects and challenges of lignin-derived bioproducts reveals that the advancement of research and development is required to explore the applications of depolymerization of lignins to their full potential.

The Awareness and Attitudes of the Public toward Complementary and Alternative Treatments

Introduction: Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is flourishing very fast and the usage of CAM in health care is quickly evolving. The behavior and attitude of the patients towards herbal medicines represents an important concern for policy makers and for regulators. Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the pattern of natural products use among the public and the Attitudes towards natural health products in Al-kharj Methodology: This is a cross-sectional study design. A questionnaire was prepared using Google drive tool and used to evaluate the pattern of natural products use among the public and the attitudes towards natural health products in Al-kharj governorate. The survey was filled by 442 participants. Results: Most respondents used a natural health product in the past (only 319 of 442 have been used natural product), the most used products were Vitamins/Minerals (85.57%). Additionally, about 50 % of the respondents agreed that the natural health products are safe because they are made from natural ingredients. The majority of the respondents reported that there isn't enough information on natural health product labels to help them understand the Products. The majority reported that the family and friends were recommended and provided them with the information regarding the use of the natural health product (71.78%). Conclusion: The present study showed that the use of herbal medicine is a common practice. The legislation is recommended to arrange the using of natural health products. The study results would surely require an active role for the Ministry of Health and Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) to insure enough information regard the risks and benefits of NHPs.