Influence of water on the dissolution of cellulose in selected ionic liquids

Abstract

Cellulose (7% water) was thoroughly dispersed in various ionic liquids (IL) and the turbidity of the mixture was investigated to distinguish real dissolution from fine dispersion. The dissolving ability of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (BMIMCl know cellulose solvent) and 11 other commercial IL (not reported as cellulose solvents) was studied. From the latter, only 1,3-dimethylimidazolium dimethylphosphate (DMIMDMP) could dissolve cellulose. The influence of water content on the real dissolution of cellulose in these two IL was investigated. The maximum theoretical amount of dissolved anhydrous cellulose in the IL was determined by extrapolation methodology at different temperatures. For cellulose in BMIMCl, it was 8.75 g/100 g of IL at 95°C. DMIMDMP could achieve real cellulose dissolution only in a practically anhydrous system (2.3 g/100 g of IL at 30°C) but dissolution was physically limited by high viscosity.

Chemical Modification of Cellulose with Succinic Anhydride in Ionic Liquid with or without Catalysts

“…Recently, due to their unique physico-chemical properties, such as chemical and thermal stability, non-flammability and immeasurably low vapor pressure, ionic liquids (ILs) have been considered as the most potential green solvents in the future, which have attracted a great deal of scientific attention in many fields (Forsyth et al, 2002;Turner et al, 2003). Many kinds of ILs with a variety of structures have been reported as novel solvents for cellulose dissolution, including a series of alkylimidazolium salts containing chloride (Swatloski et al, 2002;Luo et al, 2005;Heinze et al, 2005;Zhang et al, 2005), formate (Fukaya et al, 2006), acetate (Hermanutz et al, 2007;Kosan et al, 2008;de Maria & Martinsson, 2009), and alkylphosphate (Fukaya et al, 2006;Fukaya et al, 2008;Kamiya et al, 2008;Mazza et al, 2009). Based on the dissolution of cellulose in ILs, the investigation into the use of ILs as reaction media for cellulose functionalization has also been reported.…”

Applications of Ionic Liquids for the Development of Optical Chemical Sensors and Biosensors

“…[29][30][31][32]101 The solubility of cellulose in ILs depends on the origin, extent of polymerization, temperature of the dissolution, and water content in the system, in particular. [30][31][32]102 Cellulose can be regenerated from the cellulose-IL solutions in a variety of forms (films, fibers, beads, sponges, etc.) by adding an anti-solvent, as a rule, water.…”

Task-specific ionic liquid for the depolymerisation of starch-based industrial waste into high reducing sugars

“…It is highly probable that our ionic liquid contained a higher amount of water than Wu et al, diminishing subsequently the dissolution efficiency. It is indeed well known that water-content can disrupt the carbohydrate dissolution in an ionic liquid and lead to a heterogeneous medium [38]. value.…”