Modified protein adhesives and lignocellulosic composites made from the adhesives

1. A lignocellulosic composite, comprising at least two lignocellulosic substrates bonded together with an adhesive composition, the adhesive composition comprising a reaction product of soy protein and at least one compound, wherein the at least one compound includes both (i) at least one first functional group selected from phenolic hydroxyl, thiol, amino, or imino, and (ii) at least one second functional group selected from hydroxyl, carboxyl or amino, wherein the adhesive composition includes a covalent bond formed between the second functional group of the at least one compound and the soy protein.

2. The composite of claim 1 , wherein the first functional group comprises amino and the compound is selected from an alkyl amine, an unsaturated hydrocarbon amine, a hydroxy amine, an amidine, an imine, an amino acid, a polyamine, or a polyamide.

3. The composite of claim 1 , wherein the soy protein is provided in the form of a soy protein product.

4. The composite of claim 3 , wherein the soy protein product is selected from soy flour, soy protein concentrate, or soy protein isolate.

5. The composite of claim 4 , wherein the soy protein product is soy flour.

6. The composite of claim 1 , wherein the lignocellulosic composite comprises a particleboard, oriented strand board, waferboard, fiberboard, parallel strand lumber, laminated strand lumber, plywood or laminated veneer lumber.

7. A lignocellulosic composite, comprising at least two lignocellulosic substrates bonded together with an adhesive composition, the adhesive composition comprising the reaction product of soy protein with at least one compound under conditions sufficient for introducing additional functional groups into the soy protein structure, wherein the additional functional groups comprise at least one group selected from phenolic hydroxyl, amino, imino or thiol, and the additional functional groups are present in terminal, pendant, or terminal and pendant positions in the soy protein structure.

8. The composite of claim 7 , wherein the lignocellulosic composite comprises a particleboard, oriented strand board, waferboard, fiberboard, parallel strand lumber, laminated strand lumber, plywood or laminated veneer lumber.

9. A lignocellulosic composite, comprising at least two lignocellulosic substrates bonded together with an adhesive composition, the adhesive composition comprising a reaction product of soy protein and a compound, wherein the compound includes (i) at least one first functional group selected from phenolic hydroxyl or thiol and (ii) at least one amino functional group, and the amino functional group of the compound covalently bonds to a carboxylic acid functional group of the soy protein.

10. The composite of claim 1 , wherein the first functional group comprises amino and the compound is a hydroxy amine.

11. The composite of claim 1 , wherein the first functional group comprises amino and the compound is a polyamine.

12. The composite of claim 1 , wherein the first functional group comprises amino and the compound is a polyamide.

13. The composite of claim 1 , wherein the second functional group comprises hydroxyl.

14. The composite of claim 1 , wherein the first functional group comprises amino and the second functional group comprises hydroxyl.

15. The composite of claim 10 , wherein the second functional group comprises hydroxyl.

16. The composite of claim 11 , wherein the second functional group comprises hydroxyl.

17. The composite of claim 1 , wherein the soy protein is initially reacted with the compound prior to bonding the two lignocellulosic substrates together.

18. An adhesive composition comprising a reaction product of soy protein and at least one compound, wherein the at least one compound includes both (i) at least one first functional group selected from phenolic hydroxyl, thiol, amino, or imino, and (ii) at least one second functional group for covalently bonding the at least one compound to the soy protein, wherein the second functional group is selected from hydroxyl or carboxyl.

19. The adhesive composition of claim 18 , wherein the second functional group comprises hydroxyl.

20. The adhesive composition of claim 19 , wherein the first functional group comprises amino.

21. The adhesive composition of claim 18 , wherein the first functional group comprises amino and the compound is a polyamine.

22. The composite of claim 1 , wherein the covalent bond formed between the second functional group and the soy protein is in the form of an amide, ether or ester linking group.

23. The composite of claim 1 , wherein the covalent bond formed between the second functional group and the soy protein is in the form of an amide linking group.

24. The composite of claim 7 , wherein the reaction product includes at least one amide, ether or ester linking group covalently bonding the soy protein with the at least one compound.

25. The composite of claim 7 , wherein the reaction product includes at least one amide linking group covalently bonding the soy protein with the at least one compound.

26. The composite of claim 7 , wherein the additional functional groups are covalently bonded to the soy protein via at least one amide, ether or ester linking group.

27. The composite of claim 7 , wherein the additional functional groups are covalently bonded to the soy protein via at least one amide linking group.

28. The composite of claim 25 , wherein the additional functional groups are selected from phenolic hydroxyl or thiol.

29. The composite of claim 27 , wherein the additional functional groups are selected from phenolic hydroxyl or thiol.

30. The composite of claim 7 , wherein the additional functional groups include phenolic hydroxyl groups and thiol groups.

31. An adhesive composition comprising a modified soy protein structure, wherein the modified soy protein structure includes at least one additional phenolic hydroxyl, amino, imino or thiol group relative to an un-modified soy protein structure, and the additional phenolic hydroxyl, amino, imino or thiol group is covalently bonded to the soy protein structure via an amide, ether or ester linking group.

32. The adhesive composition of claim 31 , wherein the modified soy protein structure includes additional phenolic hydroxyl or thiol groups, and the additional phenolic hydroxyl or thiol groups are covalently bonded to the soy protein structure via an amide linking group.

33. The adhesive composition of claim 32 , wherein the amide linking group is formed with a carboxyl group of the soy protein.

34. The adhesive composition of claim 31 , wherein the modified soy protein structure includes at least one additional phenolic hydroxyl group and at least one additional amino group.

35. The adhesive composition of claim 31 , wherein the modified soy protein structure includes at least one additional phenolic hydroxyl group and at least one additional thiol group.