Understanding the dissolution of cellulose in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate+DMAc solvent

Cellulose solvent ([C4mim][CH3COO]/DMAc) could be obtained by adding N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc) in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([C4mim][CH3COO]). The solubilities of cellulose in [C4mim][CH3COO]/DMAc solvents were determined at 25°C. The effects of molar ratio of DMAc to [C4mim][CH3COO] on cellulose solubility and the possible dissolution mechanism of cellulose in [C4mim][CH3COO]/DMAc solvent have been studied. Moreover, the regenerated cellulose from [C4mim][CH3COO]/DMAc solvent were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). It was found that, cellulose was more readily dissolved in [C4mim][CH3COO]/DMAc solvent than in a neat [C4mim][CH3COO], which mainly attributed to the increased "free" [CH3COO](-) anions and [C4mim](+) cations which result from the dissociation of [C4mim][CH3COO] by DMAc. Moreover, the regenerated cellulose from [C4mim][CH3COO]/DMAc solvent displayed good thermostability and similar molecular structure to the original cellulose.