Characterization of hydrogen bonding in cellulose-synthetic polymer blend systems with regioselectively substituted methylcellulose

Specifically substituted O-methylcelluloaea, 2,3-di-O-methylcellulose and 6-O-methylcelluloae were used as cellulosic components in blends with poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA). Since their hydroxyl groups (OH) form controlled intra- and intermolecular hydrogen bonds, the cellulose derivatives are useful as model compounds to investigate the effect of hydrogen bonding in cellulose-synthetic polymer blend systems. FTIR spectra of the cellulosic-PEO blend films revealed that, while the primary hydroxyl groups at the C-6 position of cellulose interact strongly with ether oxygen in PEO, the secondary hydroxyl groups at the C-2 and C-3 positions show no evidence for polymer-polymer interactions