Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are negatively charged colloidal particles well known to form highly stable surfactant-free Pickering emulsions. These particles can vary in surface charge density depending on their preparation by acid hydrolysis or applying post-treatments. CNCs with three different surface charge densities were prepared corresponding to 0.08, 0.16 and 0.64 e nm −2 , respectively. Posttreatment might also increase the surface charge density. The well-known TEMPO-mediated oxidation substitutes C 6 -hydroxyl groups by C 6 -carboxyl groups on the surface. We report that these different modified CNCs lead to stable oil-in-water emulsions. TEMPO-oxidized CNC might be the basis of further modifications. It is shown that they can, for example, lead to hydrophobic CNCs with a simple method using quaternary ammonium salts that allow producing inverse water-in-oil emulsions. Different from CNC modification before emulsification, modification can be carried out on the droplets after emulsification. This way allows preparing functional capsules according to the layer-by-layer process. As a result, it is demonstrated here the large range of use of these biobased rod-like nanoparticles, extending therefore their potential use to highly sophisticated formulations.

Kraft lignin from black liquor wastes have been converted into epichlorohydrin-crosslinked beads by inverse suspension polymerization. A careful control of the different parameters allowed the preparation of spherical beads with a relatively narrow diameter size distribution. The obtained beads, without permanent porosity, swell well in hydroalcoholic media. Grafting of the sulfonylhydrazine moiety using a two-step route was further performed to apply them to carbonyl compounds scavenging.

Alkaline lignin extracted from oak wood cooperage wastes was chemically modified to prepare beads by suspension polymerization on water without the use of organic solvents. These beads were macroporous and swelled in hydrophilic solvents. They were functionalized under microwaves to be used as scavenging agents in winery applications. The beads prepared by this approach have the advantage of being more acceptable by winemakers than synthetic polymer supports previously reported. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2013