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ARS Home » Southeast Area » New Orleans, Louisiana » Southern Regional Research Center » Commodity Utilization Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #378326
Research Project: Development of Novel Cottonseed Products and Processes

Location: Commodity Utilization Research

Title: Synthesis and characterization of hydrophobically modified xylans

Author
item Cheng, Huai
item Biswas, Atanu
item Kim, Sanghoon
item ALVES, CARLUCIO - State University Of Ceará
item FURTADO, ROSELAYNE - Embrapa

Submitted to: Polymers
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/12/2021
Publication Date: 1/18/2021
Publication URL: https://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/7261465
Citation: Cheng, H.N., Biswas, A., Kim, S., Alves, C.R., Furtado, R.F. 2021. Synthesis and characterization of hydrophobically modified xylans. Polymers. 13:291. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13020291.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13020291

Interpretive Summary: Xylan is a form of hemicellulose and is found widely in most plants, including cotton, sugar cane, wheat straw, sorghum, and corn. Despite their availability, xylan is under-utilized because in its native form it does not have the end-use properties needed for many applications. One way to enhance the utility of xylan is to modify it chemically. In this work, we have derivatized xylan with three types of hydrophobic groups. Two of these derivatives are new. The addition of these novel polysaccharides should benefit future application needs.

Technical Abstract: Xylan is a major type of hemicellulose that has attracted a lot of research and development activities. It is often derivatized in order to improve its properties. In the literature, hydrophobic modification of polymers is often used to produce surfactant-like materials and associative thickeners. In this work, we have derivatized xylan with alkyl ketene dimer (AKD) and two types of alkenyl succinic anhydrides (ASAs). The xylan-AKD derivatives have been made at 90°C, using dimethyl sulfoxide as a solvent and 4-dimethylaminopyridine as a promoter. Samples with degrees of substitution (DS) up to 0.006 have been produced. The xylan-ASA derivatives have been synthesized at 120ºC in dimethyl sulfoxide with DS up to 0.105-0.135. The structures of these products have been confirmed with NMR and FT-IR. These xylan derivatives increase the structural diversity of xylan and provide additional options for people seeking to use hydrophobically modified polysaccharides in their applications.