Relationship between Intrinsic Viscosity and Molecular Weight for Fractionated Cellulose

A relationship between intrinsic viscosity and molecular weight for fractionated cellulose is established. The exponent a of the Mark-Houwink equation is 0.80. The unperturbed dimensions of cellulose are discussed on the basis of the Stockmayer-Fixman and Kurata-Stockmayer viscometric theories, and it is determined that cellulose is not a very rigid macromolecule in nature. This conclusion disagrees with the results obtained by statistical mechanics procedures in which the restriction of β-glucose residues to the C1 conformation was kept. The steric hindrance factor, σ is about 2, and it seems to be independent of the substituents in cellulose if it is evaluated in both cellulose and cellulose derivatives from viscometric data. From statistical mechanics data reported in the literature, σ is estimated as 4.4 for cellulose and cellulose derivatives, such as cellulose nitrate, and this means that the steric hindrances of the substituents have little influence on the rigidity of cellulose derivatives. This view disagrees with the results obtained from the non-Newtonian behavior of cellulose and cellulose nitrate in dilute solutions. By applying the Noda-Hearst theory, the conclusion is reached that cellulose nitrate is a more extended macromolecule than cellulose.