Carbonyl groups development on degraded cellulose. Correlation between spectroscopic and chemical results

Cellulose undergoing accelerated hydrothermal ageing gives a pattern of carbonyl groups whose vibrational modes were observed in UV/VI/NIR, FTIR and Raman spectra. Indirectly their presence in degraded samples was observed traced by the changes in the degree of polymerization (DP) and acidity (pH). Conjugated ketonic groups found in FTIR and Raman spectra after accelerated ageing were correlated to the chromophores detected by UV/VIS. A simple model describing the formation of chromophores was put forward and verified by experiments.