Ionic Liquids — Promising but Challenging Solvents for Homogeneous Derivatization of Cellulose

Molecules

Martin Gericke¹  Pedro Fardim¹ 

[1] ¹Laboratory of Fibre and Cellulose Technology, Åbo Akademi University, Porthansgatan 3 FI-20500 Turku, Finland ²Institute of Organic Chemistry and Macromolecular Chemistry, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Centre of Excellence for Polysaccharide Research, Humboldtstraße 10, D-07743 Jena, Germany

关键词: cellulose;    ionic liquids;    homogeneous synthesis;    cellulose derivatives;    reaction media;   

DOI  :  10.3390/molecules17067458

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

In the past decade, ionic liquids (ILs) have received enormous interest as solvents for cellulose. They have been studied intensively for fractionation and biorefining of lignocellulosic biomass, for dissolution of the polysaccharide, for preparation of cellulosic fibers, and in particular as reaction media for the homogeneous preparation of highly engineered polysaccharide derivatives. ILs show great potential for application on a commercial scale regarding recyclability, high dissolution power, and their broad structural diversity. However, a critical analysis reveals that these promising features are combined with serious drawbacks that need to be addressed in order to utilize ILs for the efficient synthesis of cellulose derivatives. This review presents a comprehensive overview about chemical modification of cellulose in ILs. Difficulties encountered thereby are discussed critically and current as well as future developments in this field of polysaccharide research are outlined.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.