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Abstract: Using the methods of molecular hydrodynamics, structural-conformational studies have been performed for a number of cellulose valerate and acetovalerate samples in the molecular-mass range M = (58.1–464.3) × 103 and with a mean degree of substitution of 182.4 with respect to valeric acid isomers. The conformations of valerate-substituted cellulose molecules are characterized by an increased local packing density of monomer units. The molecular conformations are quantitatively described in terms of the helix formed by the succession of vectors connecting glycoside oxygens of a chain. The molecular-hydrodynamic and conformational characteristics of cellulose valerate are compared with the corresponding characteristics of cellulose myristate.

Abstract: Cellulose myristate samples with a degree of substitution of 230–250 have been studied by the methods of molecular hydrodynamics (viscometry, analytical ultracentrifugation (flotation), and isothermal translational diffusion) in chloroform in the range M = (56–652) × 103. The experimental evidence has been interpreted within the framework of the generalized wormlike Yamakawa-Fuji model with the following parameters: the persistence length a = 115 × 10−8 cm, the chain diameter d = 45 × 10−8 cm, and the molecular mass per unit chain length M L = 270 × 108 cm−1. It has been inferred that the polymer dissolves in chloroform in the form of dimers.