Optical Properties and Structure of Highly Concentrated Solutions of Cellulose in N-Methylmorpholine N-Oxide

The nature of the anisotropy of highly concentrated solutions of cellulose in MMO was investigated. The temperature-concentration intervals of the existence of nonequilibrium and thermodynamically equilibrium anisotropic states of cellulose in solutions of MMO were detected and determined. The proposed explanation of the specific features of the reaction of cellulose with MMO, which results in the formation of a mesophase, does not exhaust the group of problems of the mechanism of ordering of highly concentrated cellulose solutions and the structural characteristics of the liquid-crystalline phase formed. An examination of these questions requires conducting further detailed studies.