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Stable nanocellulose gels prepared by crosslinking of surface charged cellulose nanofibrils with di- and triiodoalkanes

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Abstract

Nanocellulose gels were prepared by a new chemical crosslinking approach. Carboxy group containing cellulose nanofibrils, which were prepared by (2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-1-yl)oxidanyl (TEMPO) mediated oxidation, were reacted with two different diiodoalkanes and one triiodoalkane in DMSO/water dispersions at elevated temperatures. Mechanically stable gels were obtained that were characterized with respect to chemical and physical properties. It was confirmed by FTIR spectroscopy that crosslinking of TEMPO oxidized cellulose nanofibrils (TCNF) occurs by the formation of ester bonds. The kinetics of gel formation were evaluated by oscillatory rheology experiments. For long alkyl chain cross-linkers, namely 1,4-diiodobutane and 1,10-diiododecane, the initial gel was formed within a short time (gel point < 5 min) and further evolved upon time for about 0.5–2 h. For the short crosslinker triiodomethane, gel formation was slower and resulted in lower mechanical strength.

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Acknowledgments

We thank our colleagues from Domsjö fabriker AB (Sweden) for supplying the never dried sulfite pulp on which this experiment was conducted. The authors thank the Slovenian Research Agency within the research program P4-0015 and the Slovene science foundation for their financial support. The authors also acknowledge the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport of the Republic of Slovenia for financial support of the “young scientist” programme.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Wood Science and Technology, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Jamnikarjeva 101, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Jaka Levanič, Ida Poljanšek & Primož Oven

  2. Institute for Organic Chemistry and Macromolecular Chemistry, Center of Excellence for Polysaccharide Research, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Humboldt Straße 10, 07743, Jena, Germany

    Martin Gericke & Thomas Heinze

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  1. Jaka Levanič
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  2. Martin Gericke
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  3. Thomas Heinze
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  4. Ida Poljanšek
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Correspondence to Primož Oven.

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Levanič, J., Gericke, M., Heinze, T. et al. Stable nanocellulose gels prepared by crosslinking of surface charged cellulose nanofibrils with di- and triiodoalkanes. Cellulose 27, 2053–2068 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-019-02947-3

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