ChemComm highlights hot article from our Lab

10-Sept-2021 - Damayanti Bagchi, a postdoctoral researcher in Irene Chen’s lab at University of California, Los Angeles, summarizes today on Chemical Communications blog our recent study on improved production of polysaccharide nanofibers selected by Chemical Communications amid its "hot articles".

The synthesis of carboxylated polysaccharide nanofibers such as cellulose nanofiber (CNF) and nanosacchachitin mediated by SiliaCat TEMPO, recounts Dr Bagchi, shows "that hybrid sol–gel catalyst allows the synthesis of insoluble polysaccharide nanofibers of superior quality, eliminating waste.

"New production strategies" she continues "involve TEMPO-mediated oxidation followed by homogenisation. The residual hypochlorite can be quenched with 0.3% ascorbic acid to produce chloride and subsequently CNF is separated from the solid catalyst via simple filtration.

"This dramatically reduced the polysaccharide nanofiber production costs opening the route to large-scale production of functional products where their use has been limitedby high cost".

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