A CHEMICAL APPROACH TO THE QUANTITATIVE-DETERMINATION OF CARBOXYMETHYL CELLULOSE IN INDUSTRIAL-SAMPLES

The quantitation of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) by chemical analysis , with either manual or automated L-cysteine-sulphuric acid assays, wa s shown to be affected by the degree of substitution (DS) of the CMC; a decrease in response to the L-cysteine-sulphuric acid assay with inc reasing DS was observed. However, the use of a mathematical model, whi ch corrected the CMC weight to cellulose content, combined with a preh ydrolysis step for removing the carboxymethyl groups prior to either m anual or post-chromatographic Biogel(R) P6 column automated L-Cysteine -sulphuric acid assays eliminated the interference of the DS in the L- cysteine assay.