Abstract
Never-dried American cotton fibers taken from cotton bolls at different stages of growth were treated with acrylonitrile after impregnating with an aqueous sodium hydroxide solution. The water absorbency of the treated fibers was measured by the centrifugation method and the bound water content was determined by differential scanning calorimetry. These experiments showed that the high water absorbency of never-dried cotton fibers could be preserved permanently by this chemical treatment even after complete drying. It was presumed for this reason that the cyanoethyl groups introduced onto cellulose molecules in a small amount by this treatment prevented the irreversible structure formation by hydrogen bonds between cellulose molecules during the drying process.
