Interaction Of Cellulose Model (D-Cellobiose) With Some Selected Sodium Salts

Abstract

This work focused on employing sodium salts to modify cellulose, a crucial biopolymer found in plant cell walls, to improve its characteristics. Three methods were used to study cellulose-salt interaction. Task 1 employed Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) to examine infrared absorption frequencies and discovered that the highest peak shift was caused by sodium borate (Na3BO3). In Task 2, thermal stability was evaluated using thermogravimetric analysis. The results showed that while sodium sulfate (Na2SO4) decreased stability and combustion temperature, sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) increased both. Task 3 investigated interactions between cellobiose and sodium salts using density functional theory and computational techniques, with a particular emphasis on bond lengths ≤ 3.5 Å. Sodium borate (Na3BO3) had strong binding at 1.780 Å, whereas sodium azide (NaN3) had the maximum binding activity with a bond length of 1.882 Å. According to estimations of reaction energy, sodium borate, and β-cellobiose had the maximum energy at 30.88 Kcal/mol, while sodium nitrite and α-cellobiose had the lowest energy at -97 Kcal/mol. This study shows the influence of sodium salt on cellulose. Keywords: cellulose, biopolymer, Cellobiose, sodium salts, bond lengt