Cellulose from sugarcane bagasse was used for synthesizing cellulose acetate with different degrees of substitution, which were characterized by ¹H-NMR through the relationship between the peak areas of the hydrogen atoms of the acetate groups (-(C=O)OCH3) and the peaks of the hydrogen bonded to the carbon atoms of the glucosidic rings. Suppression of some signals was carried out in order to remove the residual water resonance in the materials and those related to impurities in cellulose triacetate as well. A deconvolution method for the computation of the degree of substitution of acetylation is proposed. The degrees of substitution for the cellulose samples were 2.94 and 2.60, in good agreement with those obtained by chemical determination through an acid-base titration.
Cellulose acetate; sugarcane bagasse; degree of substitution; 1H-NMR; deconvolution
