Dr. Chaofeng Zhang received his PhD in Organic Chemistry from Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP), Chinese Academy of Sciences, under the supervision of Professor Feng Wang in 2017, then joined the DICP as an Assistant Professor. In 2022, he joined Nanjing Forestry University (NFU) and was promoted to full Professor.Professor Feng Wang received his PhD in Physical Chemistry from Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP), Chinese Academy of Sciences, in 2005, then joined DICP and was promoted to full Professor in 2011.

• Part I Book introduction1. Background and overview Part II Understanding about the lignin2. Lignin biosynthesis, structure, and physicochemistry properties3. Lignin isolation and lignin pre-chemical modification4. Lignin detection, quantification and structure characterization Part III Lignin depolymerization: scientific questions, challenges and current progress5. Scientific questions for lignin conversion and new biorefinery6. Brief summary of methods for lignin depolymerization Part IV Strategies review on lignin linkages cleavage involved in lignin depolymerization via the inverse disassembly analysis7. The inverse disassembly analysis (IDA) method for classifying lignin conversion methods/strategies8. Direct lignin C-Oar, ArO-Ar or C-Ar bonds cleavage without first activation of the adjacent chemical bonds9. Lignin linkages cleavage beginning with phenolic hydroxyl group dehydrogenation or first aromatic rings activation10. Lignin linkages cleavage beginning with C alpha-H or ArO-H heterolysis11. Lignin linkages cleavage beginning with C alpha-OH bond heterolysis12. Lignin linkages cleavage beginning with the activation of C alpha-H, C alpha-OH or C alpha O-H bonds via non-ionized routes13. Lignin linkages cleavage beginning with C beta-H direct activation14. Lignin linkages cleavage beginning with C gamma-H or C gammaO-H direct activation15. Lignin depolymerization strategies considering fragments condensation