Surface Modification of 1-Butyl-3-Methylimidazolium Chloride -Treated Lignocellulosic Materials

Lignocellulosic materials are generally considered hydrophilic due to the high density of hydroxyl groups. The use of lignocellulosic materials in hydrophobic systems thus require surface modification. Therefore, in this study, cellulose (MCC) and sawdust (SD) have been pretreated with ionic liquid, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (BMIMCl) prior to surface modification with cationic surfactant, hexadecyl trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). The effect of BMIMCl pretreatment prior to surface modification has been investigated. Crystallinity, functional group changes, morphology and thermal stability of the sawdust and cellulose upon BMIMCl pretreatment and surface modification have been studied using x-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA). XRD results showed that the structure of lignocellulosic materials became more amorphous upon pretreatment with BMIMCl. FTIR results indicated that the modification of lignocellulosic is more efficient in BMIMCl-pretreated samples. Percentage of decomposition is higher for the BMIMCl-pretreated and CTAB modified samples.

Infrared Spectroscopy of Anionic, Cationic, and Zwitterionic Surfactants

This paper describes the ordering degree of anionic, cationic, and zwitterionic surfactants with the increase of their packing density on Ge substrate by using Fourier transform infrared-attenuated total reflection (FTIR-ATR) spectroscopy. This work shows new insights on the conformational order of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), N-hexadecyl-N-N-dimethyl-3-ammonio-1-propane-sulfonate (HPS), hexadecyl-trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), and dodecyl trimethylammonium bromide (DTAB). DFT and semiempirical calculations are also performed in order to evaluate the effect of headgroup hydration and counterion. The CH2 asymmetric and symmetric stretching bands for the SDS molecule show a shift of 1.7 and 0.9 cm−1 to higher frequencies as the packing density increases, while it is observed a shift of 2.6 and 2.7 cm−1 for the HPS molecule, respectively. The DTAB molecule shows a shift of 4.5 cm−1 to lower frequencies for both CH2 asymmetric and symmetric stretching bands as the packing density increases, indicating the decrease of gauche conformations and the increase of all-trans conformations over the aliphatic chain.

Dielectric Spectroscopy of Solutions of Some Alkylammonium Salts in Chloroform and 1-Octanol

Dielectric loss spectra between 1 MHz and 36 GHz have been measured at 20°C for solutions of hexadecyl trimethylammonium bromide and chloride, tetrahexylammonium bromide and tetrabutylam-monium bromide in chloroform and 1-octanol (three solutes per solvent) at moderate and high concen-trations. The discussion is aimed at identifying relaxation processes involving ions. Describing the relax -ational part of the spectra (after subtraction of the conductivity contribution) by a sum of spectral com-ponents, the lowest frequency component can be attributed to the solute in all cases. Its concentration dependence is indicative of two ionic relaxation processes differing in physical nature. The solvent is partly involved in those processes; moreover a structure breaking effect is likely to occur in case of the alcoholic solvent. The results are also discussed in comparison with a molten alkylammonium salt and with solutions of this and of inorganic salts.

Short-Wavelength Absorbing Complexes of Chlorophyll a in Micellar Solution of Cationic Detergents

Micellar aggregates have been prepared from chloro­phyll a. Whereas most detergents including non-ionic, zwitterionic and anionic ones, produce aggregates with long-wavelength shifted and enhanced QY absorption, the cationic detergents hexadecyl-trimethylammonium-bromide and hexadecyl-pyridiniumchloride produce complexes with opposite traits: The QY absorption is shifted to shorter wavelengths, and it is hypochromic. The optical activity is increased as in the long-wave­ length shifted complexes, but the cd bands are non-conservative and coincide with the absorption maxima. The complexes are most likely small aggregates of chlorophyll with a changed geometry as compared to the “standard” ones.