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Updated: Jul 4, 2025

Towards Biomimicking Wood: Fabricated Free-standing Films of Nanocellulose, Lignin, and a Synthetic Polycation
Published on: June 17, 2014
Cellulose modification for sustainable polymers: overcoming problems of solubility and processing
Peter McNeice1, Gert H Ten Brink2, Ulrik Gran3
1Advanced Research Centre CBBC, Stratingh Institute for Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Groningen Nijenborgh 4 Groningen 9747AG The Netherlands b.l.feringa@rug.nl.
Abstract:
Two new water-soluble cellulose derivatives were prepared by a two-step transformation with 1,3-propane sultone, followed by either maleic or succinic anhydride, thereby converting cellulose into a more easily processable form. It was found that the solubility was dependent on both the degree of substitution and the chemical properties of the substituents. The water-soluble cellulose has a molecular weight greater than 100 000 g mol-1 and both the morphology and molecular weight can be tuned by varying the reaction conditions. Furthermore, the flexible, two-step nature of the process allows for expansion of this methodology in order to prepare cellulose analogues for different applications.
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