Formula of cellulose. Chemical physical properties. Obtaining, applying

Common everyday objects that are common to us, which are common in our daily life, could not be imagined without the use of products of organic chemistry. Long before the chemical experiments of Anselm Pay, as a result of which he was able to detect and describe in 1838 a polysaccharide, which received its own name "cellulose" (a derivative of the French cellulose and Latin cellula, which means "cage, cage"), the property of this substance was actively used in production The most indispensable things.

The expansion of knowledge about cellulose has led to the emergence of a wide variety of things made on its basis. Paper of various grades, cardboard, plastic parts and artificial fibers (acetate, viscose, copper-ammonia), polymer films, enamels and varnishes, detergents, food additives (E460) and even smokeless powder are products of pulp production and processing.

In its pure form, cellulose is a white solid with rather attractive properties, exhibits high resistance to various chemical and physical effects.

Nature has chosen cellulose (cellulose) as its main building material. In the plant world, it forms the basis for the cell walls of trees and other higher plants. In the purest form in nature, cellulose is found in the hairs of cotton seed.

The unique properties of this substance are determined by its original structure. The cellulose formula has a general notation (C6 H10 O5) n from which we see a pronounced polymer structure. The β-glucose residue that repeats a huge number of times and has a more detailed form as - [C6 H7 O2 (OH) 3] - combines into a long linear molecule.

The molecular formula of cellulose determines its unique chemical properties to withstand the effects of aggressive media. Also cellulose has a high resistance to heat, even at 200 degrees Celsius the substance retains its structure and does not collapse. Self-ignition occurs at a temperature of 420 ° C.

Equally attractive is cellulose with its physical properties. The structural formula of cellulose in the form of long filaments, containing from 300 to 10 000 glucose residues that do not have lateral branches, largely determines the high stability of this substance. The glucose formula shows how a lot of hydrogen bonds give cellulose fibers not only great mechanical strength, but also high elasticity. The result of analytical processing of many chemical experiments and studies was the creation of a model of the macromolecule of cellulose. It is a rigid spiral with a step of 2-3 elementary links, which is stabilized by intramolecular hydrogen bonds.

Not the formula of cellulose, and the degree of its polymerization is the main characteristic for many substances. So in unprocessed cotton, the number of glucosid residues reaches 2500-3000, in purified cotton - from 900 to 1000, the purified pulp has an index of 800-1000, in regenerative cellulose their quantity is reduced to 200-400, and in industrial cellulose acetate it is from 150 Up to 270 "links" in the molecule.

The product for the production of cellulose is plant raw materials, mainly wood. The main technological process of production involves cooking chips with various chemical reagents followed by cleaning, drying and cutting the finished product.

Subsequent processing of cellulose makes it possible to obtain a variety of materials with specified physical and chemical properties that allow producing a variety of products without which the life of a modern person is difficult to imagine. The unique formula of cellulose, corrected by chemical and physical processing, became the basis for obtaining materials that had no analogues in nature, which allowed them to be widely used in the chemical industry, medicine and other branches of human activity.