Preparation of cellulose samples for size-exclusion chromatography analyses in studies of paper degradation

Hydrolytic degradation of cellulose was shown to take place during the activation procedure in distilled water during the dissolution procedure of cellulose samples from papers for size-exclusion chromatography analyses in the lithium chloride-N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc) solution system. The use of dilute aqueous sodium hydroxide solution in the activation procedure prevents hydrolytic degradation of cellulose during the dissolution procedure, especially in the case of samples of aged papers with low pH. The use of the freeze-drying technique provides samples of cellulose ready-made for dissolution in lithium chloride-N,N-dimethylacetamide solution.