What is it about?
Ionic liquids are known capable of dissolving natural biopolymers. This work shows that to achieve greater solubility, different biopolymers, starch and cellulose, needs to be dissolved in different ways with an ionic liquid. Moreover, after dissolution, these different polymers have different molecular structural conformation in the ionic liquid, resulting in different solution properties.
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Why is it important?
Practically, the information from this work is basic and significant for the process of biopolymers using ionic liquids. Scientifically, it provides insight into the polymer physical chemistry regarding the different solution behaviors of two polymers (starch and cellulose) with almost the same molecular structure.
Perspectives
This work is highly interesting as it shows water has different effects on the dissolution of starch and cellulose. Surprisingly, water in an ionic liquid could make the dissolution of starch more easily. This could be related to the different native structure of starch and cellulose. Any further understanding of the related mechanism could help us in designing more effective solvents for polymer processing.
Dr Fengwei (David) Xie
Newcastle University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Solubility of starch and microcrystalline cellulose in 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ionic liquid and solution rheological properties, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, January 2016, Royal Society of Chemistry,
DOI: 10.1039/c6cp04426c.
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