Direct grafting modification of pulp in ionic liquids and self-assembly behavior of the graft copolymers

In this paper, a novel biodegradable biomass-based amphiphile was prepared by direct grafting copolymerization of dissolved pulp with hydrophobic poly (l-lactide) in ionic liquids BmimCl. The molecular structures of the obtained copolymers were confirmed with ¹H-NMR, ¹³C-NMR and 2D HSQC NMR, and their physical properties were studied by TGA and XRD analysis. The self-assembly behaviors of these amphiphilies in aqueous solution was characterized by fluorescence spectrum and their critical micelle concentrations (CMC) were determined to be in the range of 0.326–0.062 mg/mL. TEM observations and DLS analysis revealed that the pulp-derived micelles had spherical and uniform morphology and small diameters (25–125 nm). It was also found that the surface tension of these copolymers solution firstly decreased dramatically with increasing concentration and then approached to a plateau value when the concentration was above their CMC value. MTT assay showed that the pulp-derived amphiphilic micelles exhibited good biocompatibility, which informed that these micelles could be expected to be used in biological regions, especially for the hydrophobic drug delivery system.