Modification with cyclic anhydrides forms an ester bond with wood component, whilst providing bound carboxylic moieties capable of undergoing further reaction (Hill and Mallon 1998). In studies of cotton cellulose, it was suggested that sodium hypophosphite (SHP) not only acted as a catalyst, but also seemed to react with the unsaturated carbon of maleic acid to realise a crosslinked maleic acid modified cellulose (Yang et al. 2011), resulting in better properties such as wrinkle resistance and fire properties after laundry (Wu and Yang 2007). As wood has a lower crystallinity, such reactions with hemicelluloses and other constituents could improve the performance of wood products at various conditions such as dimensional stability, durability etc..
In this study, the possibility of modifying wood using maleic anhydride (MA) combined with SHP was investigated.
Keywords: maleic anhydride (MA), Sodium hypophosphite (SHP), ester bond
Authors
Injeong Kim
Luleå University of Technology, Wood Science and Engineering, Sweden
Olov Karlsson
Dennis Jones
Dick Sandberg
Login to download the PDF