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Title: Recent progress in Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy study of compositional, structural, and physical attributes of developmental cotton fibers

Author
item Liu, Yongliang

Submitted to: Materials
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/15/2013
Publication Date: 1/22/2013
Citation: Liu, Y. 2013. Recent progress in Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy study of compositional, structural, and physical attributes of developmental cotton fibers. Materials. 6(1):299-313.

Interpretive Summary: Cotton fibers are natural plant products and their end-use qualities depend on their stages of development. In general, the quantity of natural fiber cellulose I (ß 1'4 linked glucose residues) increases rapidly, thus it leads to compositional, structural, and physical attribute variations among the fibers with shorter and longer growth periods. This article discusses recent progress in applying Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic technique to characterize these differences, to discriminate immature fibers from mature fibers, to assess fiber maturity and crystallinity, and also to unravel the band assignments in crystalline and amorphous celluloses. In particular, careful examination of results from different researchers suggested that immature fibers might have the characteristics of less than 21-28 dpa, MIR < 0.58 (in the maturity range of 0 to 1.0) and CIIR < 42% (in the crystallinity range of 0 to 100%). The outcome provides cotton fiber / textile engineers, researchers and regulators a new sight in applying FTIR technique for rapid and routine sensing of cotton maturity and crystallinity.

Technical Abstract: Cotton fibers are natural plant products and their end-use qualities depend on their stages of development. In general, the quantity of natural fiber cellulose I (ß 1'4 linked glucose residues) increases rapidly, thus it leads to compositional, structural, and physical attribute variations among the fibers with shorter and longer growth periods. This article discusses recent progress in applying Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic technique to characterize these differences, to discriminate immature fibers from mature fibers, to assess fiber maturity and crystallinity, and also to unravel the band assignments in crystalline and amorphous celluloses. The results were achieved through the use of various strategies, including wet chemical analysis, principal component analysis (PCA), simple algorithm development, two-dimensional correlation analysis, and other independent fiber tests. Of particular interest is that, in general, immature fibers might have the characteristics of less than 21-28 dpa, MIR < 0.58 (in the maturity range of 0 to 1.0) and CIIR < 42% (in the crystallinity range of 0 to 100%).