Reactions between cellulose diacetate and alkenylsuccinic anhydrides and characterization of the reaction products

Cellulose diacetate (CDA) with degree of substitution (DS) of 2.4 was dissolved in dimethylsulfoxide and reacted with octadecenyl succinic anhydrides (OSAs) using 1-methylimidazole as a promoter. FT-IR and ¹H-NMR analysis of the reaction products revealed that half-esterification occurred on residual hydroxyl groups of CDA by OSA, providing CDA/octadecenyl succinic acid (OSAcid) half esters at yields of more than 90%. The effects of reaction time and temperature on DS of CDA/OSAcid esters were studied in detail. The higher the reaction temperature, the higher the esterification rate to form CDA/OSAcid half esters. The maximum DS values were 0.41 and 0.33 for CDA/n-OSAcid and CDA/i-OSAcid esters, respectively. The original X-ray diffraction pattern of CDA changed with the introduction of OSAcid substituents into CDA, and CDA/OSAcid esters seemed to have thermoplasticity, depending on DS and the chemical structure of the OSAcids. A soil-embedding test of films of CDA and CDA/OSAcid esters indicated that the CDA/OSAcid esters that were prepared maintained the biodegradability of the original CDA.