Designing syntheses of cellulose and starch derivatives with basic or cationic N‐functions: part I—cellulose derivatives

The use of cellulose and starch derivatives that bear amino or quaternary ammonium moieties is steadily increasing, and the applications in industry are continuing to grow. These promising products are routinely used in cosmetic and paper‐making industries. This article provides an overview of strategies available to chemists for designing the syntheses of such compounds. The review provides a brief historical perspective on synthesis and describes recent developments that have enabled chemists to enhance their synthesis productivity. However, the graft polymerization techniques are far from the scope of this paper and will be noted in a few words only. In addition to the structural and synthetic aspects, applications of these derivatives are discussed in brief. We have divided this article in two parts mainly because of the vastness of the subject and limited space available. The first part of which reviews the advances in the synthesis of basic and cationic cellulose derivatives having amino or quaternary ammonium moieties and the second part of which considers starch ones. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.