Institution: | aKey Laboratory of Green Process Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China bBeijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS), Key Laboratory of Engineering Plastics (KLEP), Joint Laboratory of Polymer Science and Materials, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing 100080, China |
Abstract: | Cellulose samples extracted from cornhusk have been successfully acetylated in an ionic liquid 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (AmimCl). Without using any catalyst, cornhusk cellulose acetates (CCAs) with the degree of substitution (DS) in a range from 2.16 to 2.63 were prepared in one-step. Under the homogeneous state, the DS value of CCAs was easily controlled by the acetylation time. The obtained CCAs were characterized by means of FT-IR, 13C NMR, DSC, TGA, and a mechanical test. The NMR results showed that the distribution of the acetyl moiety among the three OH groups of the anhydroglucose unit shows a preference at the C6 position. The CCAs exhibited good solubility in some organic solvents, such as acetone and DMSO. The cast CCA films from their acetone solutions had good mechanical properties. At the end of each acetylation of cornhusk cellulose, the ionic liquid AmimCl could be effectively recovered. Therefore, this study presents a promising approach and “green process” to make use of crop by-products. |