X-Ray Diffraction, Thermal, and Physical Studies of Complexes of Cellulose with Secondary Diamines

Abstract

The symmetrical dimethylethy lenediamine-cellulose complex was found to exist in a wet or "extended" form and a dry or "contracted" form. Each form is unstable if exposed to air. A relatively stable complex is formed between dimethy 1,3-propanediamine and cellulose. An x-ray study of the dimethyl 1,3-propanediamine-cellulose complex required doubling of the elementary monoclinic unit cell to account for all of the interferences observed. There is apparently a ratio of one diamine molecule to two anhydrogtucose units in these complexes. Three other diamines containing secondary amino groups did not form complexes with cellulose under the same conditions. Thermal analyses indicated that the complexes decompose in the range of the boiling points of the diamines with a small amount of diamine retained in the cellulose. Accelerated pyrolysis of the cellulosic portion of the complex is attributed to an absence of interchain hydrogen bonding