Boreskov Institute of Catalysis SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russia

3,6-ANHYDROCELLULOSE. A MODIFIED CELLULOSEFOR IMPROVED CATALYTIC DEGRADATIONMikael Bols, Vrushali JadhavDepartment of Chemistry, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 5,2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark, e-mail: bols@kemi.ku.dkOP-2-2Cellulose is the primary constituent of biomass and the most important potentialsource of biofuel. However acidic hydrolysis of cellulose is a comparatively difficultreaction, because the polysaccharide chains of cellulose hydrogen bond verystrongly to each other. This means that the catalytic degradation of cellulose requirestrong conditions not necessarily compatible with biofuel preparation.Recently we discovered that the rate of glucoside bond hydrolysis is severalhundred times higher when glucose is forced into the 1 C 4 chair conformation[1]. Thisled to the idea that a similar conformational change, in cellulose, might lead to areadily degradable cellulose. We here present work where we have investigatedcelluloses containing 3,6-anhydro residues and show that these polysaccharides aremuch more reactive towards acidic hydrolysis.References:[1]. McDonnell, C.; Lopez, O.L.; Murphy, P.; Bolanos, J.F.; Hazell, R.; Bols, M. «Conformationaleffects on glycoside reactivity: Study of the high reactive conformer of glucose.» J. Am. Chem.Soc. 2004, 126, 12374-12385.Acknowledgements. We thank the Danish research council for production andtechnology (FTP) for financial support.43