COMPARATIVE STUDIES OF PHYSIC-CHEMICAL PROPERTIES AND STRUCTURE OF COTTON CELLULOSE AND ITS MODIFIED FORMS

Comparative studies of the physicochemical properties and structures of cotton cellulose, microcrystalline cellulose, and nanocellulose were carried out using IR, NMR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, thermal analysis in order to identify the dependence "particle size - structure - properties". It was revealed that in the series “cotton cellulose – microcrystalline cellulose – nanocellulose” the degree of polymerization decreases (1200, 230, 110 respectively), the degree of crystallinity increases (66%, 72%, 83% respectively). The IR spectra of microcrystalline cellulose and nanocellulose are characterized by sharp peaks (in the range 1000–1500 cm–1) compared with cotton cellulose. The amount of bound water in gels of microcrystalline cellulose and nanocellulose increases with decreasing particle size, the degree of stability of colloidal systems increases with the transition from microcrystalline cellulose to nanocellulose. Nanocellulose and microcrystalline cellulose have relatively smaller mass loss and relatively large temperature ranges of intensive decomposition and their thermal stability is higher than cotton cellulose. It was found that the periodate oxidation rate of nanocellulose is higher than that of microcrystalline cellulose and cotton cellulose. It was established that microcrystalline cellulose is quantitatively susceptible to periodate oxidation in 7–8 hours, and nanocellulose in 0.5–1 hour.