title: Long-chain anhydride modification: a new strategy for preparing xylan films.
abstract: Xylan, which is a widely abundant plant polymer, has been considered as an alternative for film preparation. Up to now, however, xylan films have suffered from brittleness, low mechanical strength, and humidity sensitivity. This paper describes a new and effective strategy to prepare xylan films with high mechanical strength and less moisture-sensitive properties by introducing long carbon chains into the xylan backbone. Furthermore, this work revealed some important details on the relationships between structure (molecular structure, aggregation behaviors, and surface morphology) and properties (film-forming performance, flexibility, tensile strength, and hydrophilicity) of xylan film. It was found that the hydrophobic carbon chains (2-octenylsuccinic anhydride half-ester groups) in the xylan backbone acted as steric hindrance and could effectively prevent xylan chains from aggregation. 2-Octenylsuccinic anhydride (2-OSA) modified xylan (2-OSA-X) demonstrated amorphous structure and had better film-forming performance than the unmodified xylan. 2-OSA-X films were smooth, flexible, and less moisture-sensitive and showed significantly increasing tensile strength at a low degree of substitution.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China.
authors.forename: Lin-Xin
authors.initials: LX
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.forename: Xin-Wen
authors.initials: XW
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Xue-Fei
authors.initials: XF
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Run-Cang
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D000812:Anhydrides / Q000737:chemistry*; D006813:Humidity; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D055595:Mechanical Phenomena; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D010968:Plasticizers / Q000737:chemistry; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry; D011134:Polysaccharides / Q000737:chemistry; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D013718:Tensile Strength; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction; D014990:Xylans / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000812:Anhydrides; D010968:Plasticizers; D011108:Polymers; D011134:Polysaccharides; D014990:Xylans; C007916:hemicellulose