Impact of degree of oxidation on the physicochemical properties of microcrystalline cellulose.

Microcrystalline cellulose, a major component of cell wall of plants, is one of the most abundant natural materials, but the poor solubility of cellulose limits its applications. Cellulose is a linear glucan with exclusive β 1→4 linkage. Oxidation carried out with TEMPO-NaBr-NaClO system can selectively oxidize the C6 of glucose residues in cellulose. This modification improves polysaccharide solubility and other physicochemical properties. In this work, the impact of degree of oxidation on solubility, degree of crystallization, thermostability, molecular weight and the structures of the resulting oligosaccharide products of selectively oxidized cellulose were investigated using x-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, gel permeation chromatography-multiple angle laser light scattering and ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography-electrospray-quadrupole/time of flight-mass spectrometry, respectively. The physicochemical properties of selectively oxidized cellulose having different degrees of oxidation were carefully characterized providing a theoretical foundation for the more accurate selection of applications of oxidized celluloses.