Nitration of wood cellulose in HNO₃/organic solvent medium

A steam explosion pretreatment at various severities was applied to pure wood cellulose; the influences of steam pretreatment on the morphological structure, the hydrophilic property and viscosity-average molecular weight of cellulose were evaluated. The nitration of steam-exploded cellulose was carried out in the nitrating agent medium (HNO₃/organic solvent). The performance indexes of nitrocellulose, prepared from original and steam exploded samples, were determined by using the polarized optical microscope. The results show that after pretreatment the reactivity of the three hydroxyl groups in anhydroglucose unit of cellulose is improved, and the nitrogen content and the uniformity of NC from steam exploded cellulose observably increase.