Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center researcher find way to produce Tylenol from lignin

In Wisconsin, with a new method to synthesize a popular pain-relieving medication from plants rather than fossil fuels, researchers at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center have found a way to relieve two headaches at once.

A team led by John Ralph, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, has been awarded a patent for a method to synthesize acetaminophen—the active ingredient in Tylenol—from a natural compound derived from plant material. The approach offers a renewable alternative to the current manufacturing process, which uses chemicals derived from coal tar. It also creates a useful product from an abundant but difficult-to-manage component of plant cell walls called lignin.