Title
Enhancement of cellulose reactivity using an ionic liquid pretreatment step
Authors
WEI LIU SHUAI ZHAO LIN LI and ZHEN XIANG XIN

Received January 20, 2014
Published Volume 49 Issue 5-6 May-June
Keywords MCC, [C₄mim]Cl treatment, crystallinity, reactivity

Abstract
The pretreatment is one of the critical steps in influencing the reaction efficiency of cellulose. In this article, several pretreatment methods of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) are presented: the ultrasonic, sodium hydroxide and 1-butyl 3-methylimidazolium chloride ([C4mim]Cl) dissolution treatment, and the reactivity of cellulose to a TEMPO-NaClO NaBr oxidation system is investigated. The treated cellulose is characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and FTIR. Comparing the three pretreatment methods, the ionic liquid pretreatment does not destroy cellulose I and greatly reduces crystallinity, while enhancing the reactivity of cellulose.