We developed an environmentally benign Ritter reaction of alcohols with nitriles using a commercially available bismuth salt as a less harmful catalyst. The detailed reaction profiles revealed that consumption of the ether by‐product as the reaction proceeded was the key for optimizing this reaction, and the yield of the target amide was improved by adding a small amount of water. This finding clearly reveals the significance of using a bismuth salt as the catalyst, as it is not deactivated in the presence of water. This catalyst system has a broad substrate scope, and even with 1 mol‐% of the catalyst, the reaction progresses smoothly. It is also possible to react stoichiometric amounts of nitriles and alcohols, thus reducing the amount of organic solvent required for the reaction. Furthermore, as the inexpensive bismuth catalyst can be easily removed using aqueous hydrochloric acid, a purification process that only required washing and drying without any organic solvents was successfully established.

To examine whether non-phenolic lignin moiety is converted into the new phenolic counterpart by the participation of active oxygen species (AOS) under oxygen bleaching conditions, a b-O-4 type dimeric lignin modelwas treated under conditions similar to those for oxygen bleaching. A phenolic compound, 4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzyl alcohol, was added together to generate AOS in the reaction of compound I or IV. The results obtained suggested that AOS attack the side chains of compounds I, III, and IV accompanied by the b-O-4 bond cleavages and the liberations of the corresponding phenolic compounds, 2-methoxyphenol (II), 3,5-difluorophenol (V), and compound V, respectively. However, the rapid liberation of compound V in the oxygenalkali treatment of compound III may mainly be caused by alkaline-induced reactions and/or some oxidation reactions of the primary degradation product of compound III, a muconic acid derivative.

Aniline oligomers bearing amino acid moieties were designed by the introduction of L/D-Ala-OMe into aniline oligomers to induce chirality organization of the π-conjugated aniline oligomer moieties, wherein the formation of intramolecular hydrogen bonds was demonstrated to play an important role to regulate the aniline oligomer moieties conformationally.

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A purifi ed softwood kraft lignin was modifi ed by ozone treatment and its activity as an acid soil conditioning agent, mainly focusing on elimination of aluminum toxicity, was assayed by planting experiments. The growth of radish root was examined in nutrient solution containing CaCl 2 and AlCl 3 at pH 4.8 with and without modifi ed kraft lignins. The modifi ed kraft lignins that absorbed 1.8 and 3.9 moles of ozone per C6-C3 unit (M w 180) showed two effects: the elimination of aluminum toxicity and the acceleration of root growth. The effect on the elimination of aluminum toxicity was observed even with modifi ed kraft lignin that absorbed 1.0 mole of ozone per C6-C3 unit. The high molecular weight part of the modifi ed kraft lignin that absorbed 3.9 moles of ozone per C6-C3 unit also proved to be effective not only in elimination of aluminum toxicity but also in acceleration of root growth. The acceleration effect of ozone-treated lignins on root growth was also observed under the absence of aluminum in planting experiments.