Preparation and Characterization of C10–C14 Alkyl Cellulose Ester Sulfate Surfactant

The aim of this work is to synthesize surfactants based on cellulose with different molecular weights. Raw cotton cellulose was tailored into cellulose segments with different molecular weights by a hydrothermal process, then the average degree of polymerization (DP) was determined by viscosimetry and the molecular weight distribution was estimated by gel permeation chromatography. The C10–C14 alkyl cellulose ester sulfate surfactants were prepared by hydrophilic sulfonation and hydrophobic esterification. The surface tension of the surfactants solution was obtained by the Wilhelmy plate method. Results showed that the cellulose segments presented a broader distribution compared with the raw material. The critical micelle concentration (CMC) value decreased from 1.08 to 0.86 wt% as the hydrophobic chain length was increased from 10 to 14. The CMC values of cellulose surfactants with C14‐acyl chloride hydrophobization decreased from 1.32 to 0.86 wt% as the DP was decreased from 2,700 to 296.