Dissolution of Cellulose in Ionic Liquid–DMSO Mixtures: Roles of DMSO/IL Ratio and the Cation Alkyl Chain Length

The dissolution behavior of cellulose in the mixtures of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and different ionic liquids (ILs) at 25 °C was studied. High solubility of cellulose was reached in the mixtures of ILs and DMSO at mole fractions of 1:2, 1:2, and 1:1 for 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate, 1-propyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate, and 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate, respectively. At high DMSO/IL molar ratios (10:1-2:1), a longer alkyl chain of the IL cation led to higher cellulose solubility. However, shorter cation alkyl chains favored cellulose dissolution at 1:1. Rheological, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements were used to understand cellulose dissolution. It was found out that the increase of the DMSO ratio in binary mixtures caused higher cellulose solubility by decreasing the viscosity of systems. For cations with longer alkyl chains, stronger interaction between the IL and cellulose and higher viscosity of DMSO/IL mixtures were observed. The new knowledge obtained here could be useful to the development of cost-effective solvent systems for biopolymers.