Of the various strategies for cellulose derivatization to develop new biocomposites, cellulose surface hydrophobicity is an important aim of modification for creating hygrostability and improved barrier properties. Cis-9,10-epoxy-18-hydroxyoctadecanoic acids abundant in birch outer bark are suitable precursors to develop new hydrophobic, biodegradable and biocompatible composite together with cellulose. In this study, a relatively new method was developed to isolate the precursor, followed by synthesizing polyesters through enzyme catalyzed homopolymerization and copolymerization with lactones. The biocomposite will be prepared through controlled surface derivatization of cellulose materials with epoxy activated polyesters to obtain partially thermoplastic surface regions and consolidation by compression molding.The structural characterization of processing materials and biocomposites will be performed on size exclusion chromatography (SEC) for molecular weight distribution (MWD) of polysaccharides, MALDI-TOF MS for MWD of oligomeric fragments, NMR for molecular structure solution, CP/MAS 13C-NMR, SEM and AFM for functional groups, crystallinity, lateral dimensions, fibril sizes and lengths.

Biocomposites based on birch suberin

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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