Abstract This study investigates Michael addition of cotton cellulose to N-(2-hydroxyethyl)acrylamide (HEAA) as an electrophile in the presence of LiOH in ionic liquid (1-butyl-2,3-dimethylimidazolium chloride)/DMF solvents at 40-60 oC for 12 or 24 h to synthesize new non-ionic cellulose derivatives, that is, cellulosic Michael adducts with N-(2-hydroxyethyl)propionamido substituents. As the products were totally or even partly soluble in water, depending on the reaction conditions, the 1H NMR analysis was conducted in D2O to suggest their low degrees of substitution (0.58–0.91).
Totani et al. (Tue,) studied this question.