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ARS Home » Southeast Area » New Orleans, Louisiana » Southern Regional Research Center » Commodity Utilization Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #261925
Title: Chemical modifications of cotton-based natural materials

Author
item Cheng, Huai
item Dowd, Michael
item Biswas, Atanu

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/1/2010
Publication Date: 4/1/2011
Citation: Cheng, H.N., Dowd, M.K., Biswas, A. 2011. Chemical modifications of cotton-based natural materials (abstract). 18th New Orleans Carbohydrate Symposium. Paper No. 11.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The processing of cotton generates a number of byproducts, two of which are cotton burr and cottonseed hull. It would be useful to find more uses for them and improve their value. They contain about 28-34% cellulose, 17-21% lignin, 6-25% hemicellulose, and lesser amounts of protein and oil. Under suitable conditions, both byproducts are susceptible to chemical reactions. Examples are the formation of cellulose esters and carboxymethyl derivatives. In the case of esterification, an iodine-catalyzed esterification reaction has been found to be particularly suitable for these materials; the process required no solvent during synthesis and entailed solvents only during workup. In the case of carboxymethylation, a mixture of carboxymethylcellulose and carboxymethylxylan is produced. These products have been fully characterized by NMR.