Mercerization of Wood: Formation and Reversibility of Na-cellulose I in Reaction Wood

The phase transformation from cellulose I into cellulose II in woods by way of Na-cellulose I was examined by x-ray diffraction analysis. The formation of Na-cellulose I in woods increased with the increase of treating time in alkali solution. When compression wood was treated with 20% NaOH solution at room temperature for 1 day, the x-ray diagram showed only Na-cellulose I. On the other hand, the x-ray diagram of tension wood showed a mixture of cellulose I and Na-cellulose I. Cellulose I of tension wood could not be transformed completely into Na-cellulose I even after 10-day treatment, but was transformed into Na-cellulose I after 30-day treatment. Na-cellulose I of compression and tension woods was converted to the cellulose I pattern and the mixture of cellulose I and cellulose II, respectively, after washing with water and drying at 20. Cellulose I regenerated from Na-cellulose I in wood could not be converted to cellulose II by delignification. Thus, it revealed that the delignification of the alkali-treated wood did not affect their cellulose structures. From the results, therefore, it can be concluded that lignin in woods prevents the formation of the stable Na-cellulose I and the conversion from cellulose I to cellulose II. This means that the conversion of chain polarity of wood cellulose hardly occurs during mercerization because cellulose microfibrils are fixed by lignin which not to be intermingled.