Cellulose homogeneous chemical modification

Schlufter K., Schmauder H.-P., Dorn S., Heinze X., Efficient homogeneous chemical modification of bacterial cellulose in the ionic liquid l-V-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride, Macromol. Rapid Comm., 27, 2006, 1670-1676. 

HOMOGENEOUS CHEMICAL MODIFICATIONS OF CELLULOSE FURTHER STUDIES ON THE DMSO-PF SOLVENT SYSTEM... 

Dissolution of cellulose has three major purposes. The first is to prepare regenerated and man-made cellulose fibers or films from cellulose solutions at the industrial level. Environmentally friendly and cost-profitable systems to dissolve and regenerate cellulose are now required. The second purpose is to use cellulose solutions as homogeneous reaction media during chemical modifications, which have been investigated at the laboratory level. The last one is to analyze cellulose samples. Molecular mass and molecular mass distribution studies using cellulose solutions are included in this category. Numerous cellulose solvents have, therefore, been developed and studied for these purposes. 

In general, by chemical modification reactions of cellulose no equal reactivity of positions 2, 3, and 6 appears. For instance, homogeneous acylation in DMA/LiCl results in products with a preferred functionalization at position 6, while the carboxymethylation in 2-propanol/aqueous NaOH proceeds faster at position 2 compared to 6 and 3. 

Basnett et al. [110] reported novel poly(3-hydroxyoctanoate), P(3HO), and microbial cellulose composites and showed the addition of microbial cellulose has resulted in properties that are highly desirable for medical applications, including the development of biodegradable stents. Poly 3-hydroxyoctanoate) is hydrophobic in nature, whereas microbial cellulose is extremely hydrophilic in nature, hence chemical modification of microbial cellulose is required to achieve compatibility with the poly(3-hydroxyoc-tanoate) matrix to prepare a homogenous composite. The composite was prepared by physical blending of modified microbial cellulose microcrystals and poly(3-hydroxyoc-tanoate) and solvent cast into two-dimensional composite Aims. Yoxmg s modulus and glass transition temperature of the poly(3-hydroxyoctanoate)/microbial cellulose... 

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