The unique organic/inorganic superabsorbent hydrogels based on xylan and inorganic clay montmorillonite (MMT) were prepared via grafting copolymerization of acrylic acid (AA) and 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonic acid (AMPS) withN,N-methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) as a cross-linking agent and potassium persulfate (KPS) as an initiator. The effect of variables on the swelling capacity of the hydrogels, such as the weight ratios of MMT/xylan, MBA/xylan, and AMPS/AA, was systematically optimized. The results indicated that the superabsorbent hydrogels comprised a porous cross-linking structure of MMT and xylan with side chains that carry carboxylate, carboxamide, and sulfate. The hydrogels exhibit the high compressive modulus (E), about 35–55 KPa, and the compression strength of the hydrogels increased with an increment of the MMT content. The effect of various cationic salt solutions (LiCl, CaCl2, and FeCl3) on the swelling has the following order: Li+> Ca2+> Fe3+. Furthermore, the influence of pH values on swelling behaviors showed that the superabsorbent composites retained around 1000 g g−1over a wide pH range of 6.0–10.0. The xylan-based hydrogels with the high mechanical and swelling properties are promising for the applications in the biomaterials area.

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Three lignin–carbohydrate complex (LCC) preparations were isolated to elucidate the variations of chemical linkages during growth in the early development stages of Neosinocalamus affinis bamboo culms.

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The lignin-carbohydrate complex (LCC) was isolated from milled wood lignin of 2- and 24-month-old crude bamboo (Neosinocalamus affinis) culms using acetic acid (AcOH) and then characterized. The results have shown that the LCC preparation from 2-month-old bamboo (L2) exhibited a slightly lower molecular weight than the LCC preparation from the 24-month-old bamboo (L24). Further studies using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and heteronuclear single quantum coherence (2D-HSQC) NMR spectra analyses indicate that the LCC preparations included glucuronoarabinoxylan and G-S-H lignin-type with G>S>>H. The content of the S lignin units of LCC in the mature bamboo was always higher than in the young bamboo. Combined with sugar composition analysis, the contents of phenyl glycoside and ether linkages in the L24 preparation were higher than in the L2 preparation; however, there was a reverse relationship of ester LCC bonds in L2 and L24. Lignin–xylan was the main type of LCC linkage in bamboo LCCs. Lignin–lignin linkages in the LCC preparations included β-β, β-5 and β-1 carbon-to-carbon, as well as β-O-4 ether linkages, but β-1 linkages were not present in L2.

To study the differences in chemical composition analysis and spatial distribution of young Neosinocalamus affinis bamboo, we used the methods of standard of National Renewable Energy Laboratory and confocal Raman microscopy, respectively. It was found that the acid-soluble lignin and acid-insoluble lignin content showed an inverse relationship with the increasing bamboo age. Raman analysis revealed that Raman signal intensity of lignin in both the secondary cell wall and the compound middle lamella regions showed a similar increase trend with growth of bamboo. In addition, eight hemicellulosic fractions were obtained by successively treating holocellulose of the 2-, 4-, 8-, and 12-month-old Neosinocalamus affinis bamboo culms with DMSO and alkaline solution. The ratio of arabinose to xylose of hemicelluloses was increased with the growth of bamboo. FT-IR and NMR analyses revealed that DMSO-soluble hemicelluloses of young bamboo culms are mainly composed of highly substituted xylans and β-d-glucans.

Hemicelluloses are widely used to prepare gel materials because of their renewability, biodegradability, and biocompatibility. Here, molecular chain extension of hemicelluloses was obtained in a two-step process. Composite hydrogels were prepared via free radical graft copolymerization of crosslinked quaternized hemicelluloses (CQH) and acrylic acid (AA) in the presence of crosslinking agent N,N’-methylenebisacrylamide (MBA). This chain extension strategy significantly improved the mechanical performance of the resulting hydrogels. The crosslinking density, compression modulus, and swelling capacities of hydrogels were tuned by changing the AA/CQH and MBA/CQH contents. Moreover, the biocompatibility test suggests that the hemicelluloses-based hydrogels exhibited no toxicity to cells and allowed cell growth. Taken together, these properties demonstrated that the composite hydrogels have potential applications in the fields of water absorbents, cell culture, and other functional biomaterials.

Biobased nanocomposite films for food packaging with high mechanical strength and good oxygenbarrier performance were developed using a hot-water wood extract (HWE). In this work, a facile approach to produce HWE/montmorillonite (MMT) based nanocomposite films with excellent physical properties is described. The focus of this study was to determine the effects of the MMT content on the structure and mechanical properties of nanocomposites and the effects of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) on the physical properties of the HWE-MMT films. The experimental results suggested that the intercalation of HWE and CMC in montmorillonite could produce compact, robust films with a nacre-like structure and multifunctional characteristics. This results of this study showed that the mechanical properties of the film designated F CMC0.05 (91.5 MPa) were dramatically enhanced because the proportion of HWE, MMT and CMC was 1:1.5:0.05. In addition, the optimized films exhibited an oxygen permeability below 2.0 cm 3 μm/day·m 2 ·kPa, as well as good thermal stability due to the small amount of CMC. These results provide a comprehensive understanding for further development of highperformance nanocomposites which are based on natural polymers (HWE) and assembled layered clays (MMT). These films offer great potential in the field of sustainable packaging.Natureal load-bearing materials, such as seashell nacre, are well known for their extraordinary mechanical properties that result from their highly ordered brick-mortar architecture. Nacre has inspired the fabrication of synthetic layered nanocomposite materials 1-3 . The introduction of clay into a polymer matrix can considerably enhance the thermal and mechanical properties of the polymer film and reduce oxygen permeability 4,5 . Therefore, a potential route for improving the oxygen barrier and mechanical properties of polymer films is the addition of layered clays such as montmorillonite (MMT) to form polymer/clay nanocomposites. In recent years, special attention has been given to the synthesis and characterization of nanocomposites that are based on natural polymers and assembling layered clays 6 . Increased attention is being paid to renewable resources, hence the feature of hemicelluloses including their abundance, biodegradability and biocompatibility have made them attractive 7,8 . However, using hemicelluloses to produce materials on an industrial scale is hampered by the high production costs associated with obtaining these materials with a high degree of purity 9 . It is well known that a major fraction of wood is present in the form of hemicelluloses and lignin which are present in the waste pulping liquor and must be removed during pulping to yield undegraded cellulose fibers 10 . Thus, extracting the valuable noncellulosic components from wood chips prior to pulping and converting them into biofuels or the value-added materials is financially beneficial to the pulping industry. The purpose of the proposed hot-water extraction (autohydrolysis processing, which could lead t...