Thermal, morphological and spectroscopic studies on cellulose modified with phosphorus, nitrogen, sulphur and halogens

The kinetics of the thermal degradation of cellulose and modified cellulose, namely, cellulose phosphate, cellulose carbanilate, cellulose tosylate, chlorodeoxycellulose, bromodeoxycellulose, and iododeoxycellulose in air were studied by thermogravimetry and differential thermal analysis from ambient temperature to 700°C. The various thermodynamic functions for different stages of thermal degradation had been obtained following the procedure of Broido. The activation energies for the oxidative decomposition of cellulose and modified celluloses were found to be in the range 30–399 kJ mol−1. The infrared spectra of the residues of modified celluloses gave indication of formation of a compound containing PO, POP (only in the case of cellulose phosphate), CC, and CO groups in the final residual char. The EPR signals indicated the formation of trapped and stable free radicals in the thermal degradation of all the compounds, particularly halodeoxycelluloses showed generation of large amounts of trapped free radicals during the oxidative decomposition. Scanning electron micrographs of the thermally degraded cellulose derivatives show changes in the fibrillar structure, evolution of gasesous products, and film formation depending upon the nature of the substituent in the cellulose matrix. The mechanism of thermal degradation of these compounds has been proposed.