Valorisation of biomass is a timely challenge and its bio-conversion raises a growing interest from academics and industrials. Cellulose is the most abundant biopolymer on Earth and offers a wide range of applications including value added bio-derived compounds. In this work we report the design of new methods to produce cellodextrins from cellulose and from cellulose acetate, by a combination of successive hydrolyses. These strategies imply the use of ionic liquids and enzymes to perform the depolymerisation. They represent a soft alternative to the current processes of production. The controlled hydrolysis of cellulose was realised in two steps involving first the partial fragmentation of cellulose in ionic liquids by acid catalysis. Then, the selective hydrolysis of those cellulose fragments was performed by an endoglucanase to produce the targeted sizes of cellodextrins. The second method deals with the depolymerisation of water soluble cellulose acetate by enzymatic hydrolysis. Those two methods have led to the controlled production of cellodextrins of interest, with significantly improved yields. In the second part of this work, cellodextrins were used as building block for the synthesis of analogs of lipo-chitooligosaccharides as potential natural fertilizers. Several chemo-enzymatic routes were investigated to produce these biomolecules, and two methods of synthesis were elaborated using glycoside-hydrolases as coupling tools. Those methods offer an easy access to analogs and can be adapted for the production of further molecules.
Soft bio-inspired chemistry for the preparation and modification of cellulose oligosaccharides