Abstract
The mercerization of homogenized primary wall cellulose extracted fromsugar beet pulp was investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM),X-ray diffraction together with 13C CP-MAS NMR, and FT-IR spectroscopy.For samples resulting from acid extraction, mercerization began at 9% NaOH, whereasfor samples purified by alkaline treatment, the mercerization started at 10%NaOH. The change in morphology when going from cellulose I to cellulose II wasspectacular, as all the microfibrillar cellulose morphology disappeared duringthe treatment. This change in morphology was very drastic as soon as the NaOHconcentrations were increased beyond 8 and 9% for the acid and alkalinepreparedsamples, respectively. On the other hand, the conversion was found to be moreprogressive in terms of increasing NaOH concentration when the transformationwas analyzed by X-ray diffraction or spectroscopy. Our observations of themercerization of isolated cellulose microfibrils are consistent with theconceptof cellulose microfibrils made of parallel chains in cellulose I and crystalsofcellulose II consisting of antiparallel chains.
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Dinand, E., Vignon, M., Chanzy, H. et al. Mercerization of primary wall cellulose and its implication for the conversion of cellulose I→cellulose II. Cellulose 9, 7–18 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015877021688
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015877021688