Wheat straw hemicellulose ether was prepared by methylation with methyl iod
ide using sodium hydride as a catalyst reacted in dimethyl sulphoxide. The
degree of substitution (DS) was determined by elemental analysis. According
to the elemental analysis data, the DS-value can be calculated; it was 1.7
. The structure of the methylated hemicellulose formed was characterised by
nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and Fourier transform infrared (Fr-IR) sp
ectroscopy. The thermal properties of the prepared ether were studied by si
multaneous thermal analyser (STA 625). Differential scanning calorimetry (D
SC) was also used to determine the thermal profile of the material degradat
ion. It was found that the thermal stability of wheat straw hemicellulose e
ther increased by methylation. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights re
served.