Abstract
A novel method for separating branches from poly (vinyl acetate) grafted cellulose by cellulase hydrolysis was examined.
Considering the time-course of deactivation of cellulase and competitive inhibition with hydrolyzed products of cellulose, the grafted samples were suffered 12 times to cellulase treatment and acetone extraction, alternately.
The degree of polymerization (DP) obtained at each recovering step showed the leveling-off or slightly falling tendency in the range over 60 per cent of recovered PVAc, while the amount of recovered PVAc, was greatly affected with the percent of grafting of the sample.
From the results obtained, it was concluded that the average DP of PVAc in the copolymer might be identical with that of PVAc obtained by this “alternate cellulase treatment-acetone extraction method”.
This novel method by cellulase hydrolysis may have wide application as a separation method of non-cellulosic material from cellulose-non-cellulosic material mixture, especially when the noncellulosic material is sensitive to ordinary chemicals.
