Analysis of Oxidized Functionalities in Cellulose

This review gives an overview on oxidized functionalities in celluloses, i.e., carbonyl and carboxyl groups, with regard to their chemical structure, the different ways of introduction, and their analytics. Starting from different processes introducing oxidative modifications into celluloses a survey on the chemical nature of these functionalities is given and analytical approaches towards their determination are discussed. Special emphasis is placed on recent developments which combine group-selective fluorescence labeling with multi-detector GPC analysis to provide carbonyl and carboxyl group profiles according to the CCOA and FDAM method, respectively. Examples of monitoring the oxidation state of celluloses and its changes during processing stages are given, for example bleaching, aging, dissolution or irradiation procedures.