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ARS Home » Southeast Area » New Orleans, Louisiana » Southern Regional Research Center » Commodity Utilization Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #404731
Research Project: Development of Novel Cottonseed Products and Processes

Location: Commodity Utilization Research

Title: Hydrophobic modification of agro-based polymers: A selected review

Author
item Cheng, Huai
item Biswas, Atanu
item FURTADO, ROSELAYNE - Embrapa
item ALVES, CARLUCIO - Universidade Estadual Do Ceara

Submitted to: ACS Symposium Series
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/21/2023
Publication Date: 10/16/2023
Citation: Cheng, H.N., Biswas, A., Furtado, R., Alves, C. 2023. Hydrophobic modification of agro-based polymers: A selected review. In: Cheng, H.N, Gross, R.A., editors. Sustainable Green Chemistry in Polymer Research. Volume 1. Biocatalysis and Biobased Materials. ACS Symposium Series. 1450: 249-258. https://doi.org/10.1021/bk-2023-1450.ch015.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/bk-2023-1450.ch015

Interpretive Summary: Agro-based polymers (like polysaccharides and proteins) are commercially available, sustainable, biodegradable, and eco-friendly, but most of them do not have the requisite properties needed for specific industrial applications. It is often necessary to modify them chemically to impart desirable attributes to them in order to expand their applications and upgrade their values. One attractive application is hydrophobic modification. In this article, the authors reviewed the work done by them at USDA and their collaborators on hydrophobically modified agro-based polymers. The starting materials included polysaccharides (starch, cellulose, xylan, cashew gum), polysaccharide derivative (carboxymethyl cellulose), and protein (zein). The hydrophobe varied in size from acetate to stearate, alkyl esters and amides. A fair amount of new or improved polymers were prepared and characterized. These will likely be used as associative thickeners, emulsifiers, and materials with surfactant-like properties in the future.

Technical Abstract: Agro-based polymers are found in nature and comprise a broad range of polymeric substances with different chemical structures and properties. These polymers tend to be biodegradable, sustainable, readily available, and mostly inexpensive. As a result, they have attracted increasing attention from researchers in recent years. As part of our work on the utilization of agricultural materials, we have modified several of these biopolymers with hydrophobic moieties. In this work, a review is given of selected hydrophobically modified biopolymers, based on the work done at USDA Agricultural Research Service. The biopolymers covered include starch, cellulose, carboxymethyl cellulose, xylan, cashew gum, and zein. Most of these polymers are water-soluble, and the addition of the hydrophobe imparts additional properties that may extend the utility of these polymers for different applications.