Issue 5, 2014

Transition of cellulose crystalline structure in biodegradable mixtures of renewably-sourced levulinate alkyl ammonium ionic liquids, γ-valerolactone and water

Abstract

In this work, we report that combination of levulinate as a renewably sourced anion with short chain alkyl ammonium as a cation yields room temperature ionic liquids that are capable of dissolving up to 10 wt% of microcrystalline cellulose. This dissolution results in a change of the cellulose crystalline structure from cellulose I to cellulose II, a pre-requisite step known to significantly improve the accessibility of cellulose to enzymes. As compared to previous methodologies, such ILs tolerate the presence of up to 18 wt% of water. Hence technical grade ILs can be used, thus avoiding the energy-consuming drying process generally required with traditional ILs before dissolution experiments. In addition, such ILs can be mixed with 20 wt% of γ-valerolactone, a renewably-sourced co-solvent, resulting in an improvement of the cellulose dissolution up to 20 wt% while concomitantly increasing the sustainability of these media. Finally, prepared ILs were proved to be biodegradable according to the OCDE 301F directive, thus opening a promising route for the pre-treatment of cellulose with a higher eco-efficiency.

Graphical abstract: Transition of cellulose crystalline structure in biodegradable mixtures of renewably-sourced levulinate alkyl ammonium ionic liquids, γ-valerolactone and water

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
22 Nov 2013
Accepted
05 Feb 2014
First published
05 Feb 2014

Green Chem., 2014,16, 2463-2471

Author version available

Transition of cellulose crystalline structure in biodegradable mixtures of renewably-sourced levulinate alkyl ammonium ionic liquids, γ-valerolactone and water

F. Boissou, A. Mühlbauer, K. De Oliveira Vigier, L. Leclercq, W. Kunz, S. Marinkovic, B. Estrine, V. Nardello-Rataj and F. Jérôme, Green Chem., 2014, 16, 2463 DOI: 10.1039/C3GC42396D

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements