Determination of the degree of substitution of cellulose esters via <scp>ATR‐FTIR</scp> spectroscopy

Cellulose derivatives are promising bio-based polymeric materials with possible applications ranging from thickening agents and stabilizers to optical films. The precise determination of their degree substitution (DS) is crucial, as the DS substantially influences material properties such cellulose derivatives. Herein, applicability attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared for esters was investigated. Sixteen acetates 0.41 2.99 were synthesized three acetyl group-specific vibrational signals evaluated quantitatively in reference anhydroglucose unit vibration ν(CO)AGU. A non-linear correlation absorbance intensity observed data fitted based on a newly developed model coefficients R2 between 0.958 0.998, depending signal. This method simple efficient, since it does not need any prederivatization or extensive sample preparation can furthermore be applied non-soluble samples. In order widen scope, eight butyrates, six laurates benzoates different could analogously these esters, but separate calibration found necessary.