Abundant structural polysaccharides, such as cellulose and chitin, are widely distributed on the earth, and thus, very important biomass resources. Because of their high crystallinity and stiff molecular chain packing, they often show poor solubility in water and common organic solvents, leading to difficulty in processability. Over the past decade, ionic liquids have been identified as powerful solvents for such crystalline polysaccharides. For example, in 2008, the author found the dissolution of chitin in an ionic liquid, 1-allyl-3-methylimizazolium bromide (AMIMBr). The author also reported that cellulose ion gel was facilely formed from a solution in an ionic liquid, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (BMIMCl). This presentation reports the preparation of cellulose- based functional soft materials through the gelation process with BMIMCl. Chitin-based functional soft materials by derivatization in AMIMBr will be also discussed in this presentation. When a solution of cotton cellulose in BMIMCl (5 wt%) was immersed in water at room temperature, the gelation smoothly progressed. The resulting ion gel was then dried at 60 oC for regeneration to obtain a cellulose film with BMIMCl, which showed flexible property. This flexibility was owing to the crystalline/amorphous mixture of cellulose in the film. Furthermore, the DSC result of the film showed a new endothermic peak at around 150 oC, suggesting the occurrence of phase transition at the temperature. Accordingly, the film showed thermal processability above the temperature, indicating its thermoplastic property.

Preparation of polysaccharide-based functional soft materials using ionic liquids

2019 Fall National Meeting

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