I am degrading commercial alkali lignin using laccase enzyme and ABTS as a mediator. After the degradation process (12 hr.), I am getting low total phenolic content in the supernatant of the test sample than the control (where there is no enzyme but just buffer and ABTS only). Is this expected? By the way I confirmed lignin degradation by FTIR analysis among other tests. I expected that the laccase + ABTS system will degrade lignin resulting in increased total phenolics. The total phenolic content in the supernatant is being measured through the Folin–Ciocalteu assay. Any assistance and clarity is most welcome. 0.5 mM ABTS and 83 U/ml laccase activity is being used for the degradation.