Supermolecular structure of cellulose/amylose blends prepared from aqueous NaOH solutions and effects of amylose on structural formation of cellulose from its solution

Structural changes of cellulose molecular sheet after simulations in water environment: (a) with α-d-glucose; (b) with maltohexaose; (c) without α-d-glucose or maltohexaose. We previously proposed a mechanism for the structural formation of cellulose from its solution using a molecular dynamics (MD) simulation and suggested that the initial structure from its solution plays a critical role in determining its final structure. Structural changes in the van der Waals-associated cellulose molecular sheet as the initial structure were examined by MD simulation; the molecular sheet was found to be disordered due to maltohexaoses as an amylose model in terms of the hydrogen bonding system of cellulose. The structure and properties of cellulose/amylose blends prepared from an aqueous NaOH solution were examined experimentally by wide-angle X-ray diffraction and dynamic viscoelasticity measurements. The crystallinity of cellulose in the cellulose/amylose blend films was lower than that of cellulose film. The diffraction peaks of the cellulose/amylose blends were slightly shifted; specifically, (11¯0) was shifted to a higher angle, and (110) and (020) were shifted to lower angles. These experimental results probably resulted from the disordered molecular sheet, as revealed by MD simulations.