Synthesis and thermal degradation kinetics of cellulose esters

Polymers that are biodegradable currently achieve high interest in material science since they offer reductions of landfill space during waste management as well as new end-user benefits in various fields of applications. In this work, cellulose esters such as cellulose benzoate, cellulose succinate and cellulose cinnamate were prepared using dimethylaminopyridine along with dimethylaminopyridine-p-toluene sulfonic acid catalyst. Films of cellulose esters were cast from solution. Cellulose esters were characterized by spectral methods such as infrared, nuclear magnetic resonance, thermal method such as thermogravimetric analysis. Various methods of kinetic analysis were compared in the case of thermal degradation of the cellulose and cellulose esters. Copyright (C) 2003 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.