Colloidal structures based on topochemically modified cellulose

A peculiarity of cellulose is its inclination to generate super structures, which are responsible for the excellent combination of favourable properti es of cellulosic materials. These structures are partially controlled by ch emical differences (disparate groups and end functions), which in turn may be used to carry out topochemically selective reactions on solid cellulose particles. Such reactions are widely known in literature, bill have been ap plied only for analytical purposes. Based on such methods various cellulose derivatives were synthesised by mon o- and divalent compounds. So amino- and carboxylic functions were selectiv ely introduced to cellulose. The aim was to modify cellulose in such a way as to open the possibility to attach polymers to the end groups of cellulos e. Polyethers which are physiologically safe and do not show a strong tende ncy to be physically adsorbed unto cellulose surfaces were selected as coup ling polymers. These polyethers were detected by SEC after the coupling rea ction.