Abstract
Abstract A sustainable strategy for the neat production and surface functionalization of nanocellulose from wood pulp is disclosed. It is based on the combination of organocatalysis and click chemistry (“organoclick” chemistry) and starts with nanocellulose production by organic acid catalyzed hydrolysis and esterification of the pulp under neat conditions followed by homogenization. This nanocellulose fabrication route is scalable, reduces energy consumption and the organic acid can be efficiently recycled. Next, the surface is catalytically engineered by “organoclick” chemistry, which allows for selective and versatile attachment of different organic molecules (e.g. fluorescent probes, catalyst and pharmaceuticals). It also enables binding of metal ions and nanoparticles. This was exemplified by the fabrication of a heterogeneous nanocellulose-palladium nanoparticle catalyst, which is used for Suzuki cross-coupling transformations in water. The disclosed surface functionalization methodology is broad in scope and applicable to different nanocelluloses and cellulose based materials as well.
Highlights
Nanotechnology is the research on controlling, fabricating and understanding matter at dimensions of approximately 1–100 nm in order to design special properties and functionalities [1]
We have disclosed a strategy based on combination of catalysis and “click” chemistry for the fabrication nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) and surface engineering of nanocelluloses
The nanocellulose is produced in high yields under neat conditions with low energy input using a recyclable organic acid
Summary
Nanotechnology is the research on controlling, fabricating and understanding matter at dimensions of approximately 1–100 nm in order to design special properties and functionalities [1]. The fabrication of CNC is generally performed by strong inorganic acid hydrolysis (e.g. H2SO4, HCl, phosphoric acids) of the amorphous region resulting generally in lower yields as compared to the NFC production methods [11, 12, 21, 22]. Based on our research interest in catalytic surface engineering on cellulose and the challenges in nanocellulose production, we envisioned a mild route for production and selective surface functionalization of nanocelluloses by combining organic acid catalyzed hydrolysis and surface modification of wood pulp with “click” chemistry (Fig. 1).
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