Abstract
Ultrasonic degradation of many polymers in solutions has been well investigated by many worker. As cellulose does not dissolvein water and dissolve in a few solvents, little study on ultrasonic degradation of cellulose in solutions has been repoeted. Ultrasonic degradation of cellulose is expected to give oligomers, which are valuable reagents in the biological field. In this work, we examined the effect of ultrasonic irradiation on cellulose solutions. Cellulose (Avicel-PH101) was dissolved in 8wt% lithium Chloride (LiCl)/dimethylacetamide(DMAc) solvent and 8wt% LiCl/N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP). The concentration of cellulose was 0.1 wt%. Ultrasonic homogenizer (BLANSON SONIFIRE 450D) was used. The ultrasonic frequency was 20kHz and sonication was carried at 25℃. The viscosity of cellulose solution after sonication was measured by ubbelohde capillary viscometer. Specific viscosity of cellulose solution decreased with sonicatiori time. The decrease of viscosity indicates that cellulose is degradated by sonication.
