Małachowska Edyta, Pawcenis Dominika, Dańczak Jacek, Paczkowska Joanna, Przybysz Kamila
Institute of Wood Sciences and Furniture, Warsaw University of Life Sciences-SGGW, 159 Nowoursynowska Str., 02-787 Warsaw, Poland.
Natural Fibers Advanced Technologies, 42A Blekitna Str., 93-322 Lodz, Poland.
Polymers (Basel). 2021 Mar 26;13(7):1029. doi: 10.3390/polym13071029.
The degradation of cellulose is an important factor influencing its mechanical, optical, physical, and chemical properties and, hence, the lifetime of paper in libraries and archival collections. Regardless of the complexity of the paper material, the main chemical pathways for its degradation are hydrolysis and oxidation. This study presents an overview of the analytical techniques employed in the evaluation of the hydrolysis and oxidation processes; these techniques include size-exclusion chromatography, Fourier-transform infrared and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. This paper aims to determine the extent to which these instrumental methods are useful for studying the aforementioned processes and for which lignin contents. It also highlights how atmospheric humidity could affect the cellulose structure in paper containing lignin. It was found that humidity causes significant changes in the cellulose chain lengths and that a high lignin content in paper could suppress some cellulose degradation pathways. This knowledge can be applied to developing strategies and selective chemical treatments preventing the consequences of paper ageing.
纤维素的降解是影响其机械、光学、物理和化学性质的重要因素，因此也影响图书馆和档案收藏中纸张的寿命。无论纸张材料多么复杂，其降解的主要化学途径都是水解和氧化。本研究概述了用于评估水解和氧化过程的分析技术；这些技术包括尺寸排阻色谱法、傅里叶变换红外光谱和紫外可见光谱以及X射线衍射。本文旨在确定这些仪器方法在研究上述过程以及不同木质素含量时的有用程度。它还强调了大气湿度如何影响含木质素纸张中的纤维素结构。研究发现，湿度会导致纤维素链长度发生显著变化，并且纸张中高木质素含量可以抑制一些纤维素降解途径。这些知识可应用于制定防止纸张老化后果的策略和选择性化学处理方法。
