Carbon-13 NMR evidence for cocrystallization of cellulose as a mechanism for hornification of bleached kraft pulp

Solid-state (CNMR)-C-13 spectroscopy was used to characterize a bleached softwood kraft pulp in the never-dried state and after cycles of drying and remoistening. Changes in NMR signal strengths indicated that growth of crystalline domains involved cocrystallization rather than accretion of cellulose from noncrystalline domains. A cluster of C-4 signals at 89.4 ppm, assigned to the interiors of crystalline domains, grew at the expense of C-4 signals at 84.0 and 84.9 ppm, assigned to the well-ordered surfaces of crystalline domains. Irreversible changes were not detected until the moisture content dropped below 18%. They were enhanced by a second drying/remoistening cycle, but showed little further change on subsequent cycles. The necessary conditions resembled those reported for hornification, suggesting that cocrystallization might provide a mechanism for hornification.