An x‐ray study of partially benzylated cotton cellulose

An X‐ray study has been made of partially benzylated cellulose obtained from mercerized cotton yarn, in accordance with a recently developed technique. This study reports the formation of a new crystal lattice for benzylcellulose with a degree of substitution less than 1. This new lattice is indicative of a considerable distension of the original cellulose II unit cell present in the mercerized yarn. Attempts to benzylate ramie fibers under the same conditions resulted in destruction of the fibrous structure by the treatment. Application of heat and tension were found to cause considerable improvement in crystallinity and degree of crystallite orientation of the benzylated cotton. Application of pressure in preparing the sample for X‐ray analysis in the usual manner was found to affects the X‐ray diffraction pattern, due possibly to distortion of the greatly distended (101) interplanar spacing.