NMR-STUDY OF PAPER

High quality antique sheets of paper have been characterized by H-1 NM R relaxations and C-13 CP MAS spectra. Paper can be regarded as a bico mponent material made of cellulose and water plus a small amount of or ganic and inorganic impurities. Semicrystalline fibrous cellulose, ric h in water, is present in the I-alpha and I-beta forms. The amorphous cellulose, with a low water content, contains a higher amount of param agnetic Impurities and it is characterized by quite short 1(H) spin-la ttice relaxations and by C-113 resonances with noticeable chemical shi fts. Ad hoc tailored pulse sequences are able to produce C-13 CP MAS s pectra in which only the amorphous content of paper is clearly observe d. It is shown that water is fully bound to the cellulose lattice. It also seems reasonable to formulate the hypothesis that a larger concen tration of paramagnetic ions is located in the amorphous fraction of h ighly degraded paper compared with paper in good condition.