Rapid Synthesis of Cellulose Esters by Transesterification of Cellulose with Vinyl Esters under the Catalysis of NaOH or KOH in DMSO

Traditionally, a long reaction time was required in the synthesis of cellulose esters (CEs). In this work, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)/aqueous NaOH or KOH was introduced as an efficient reaction system for rapidly synthesizing CEs by transesterification. Surprisingly, cellulose could react with vinyl acetate, vinyl propionate, and vinyl butyrate and synthesized cellulose acetate, cellulose propionate, and cellulose butyrate with a high degree of substitution (2.14–2.34) in 5 min, which was in sharp contrast to hours of existing methods. The effects of solvents, catalysts, and esterifying agents on the synthesis of CEs were comparatively investigated to better understand this method. The structure and thermal properties of obtained CEs were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopies and differential scanning calorimetry. Results from these spectra confirmed the successful synthesis of these CEs. Furthermore, these CEs showed similar thermal properties compared to products obtained from other methods.