Click chemistry for regular linking of cellulose nanocrystals

Earth Day - take a look at cellulose, the natural polysaccharide, with beta(1->4) linked D-glucose units.

Here is an interesting article using click chemistry for regular linking of cellulose nanocrystals. The chemistry is shown in the drawing (go green). Modification with azido and terminal alkyne groups is followed by the triazole click chemistry catalyzed by CuSO4-ascrobic acid system. The cellulose nanocrystals were characterized by FTIR, elemental analysis, TGA, gel permeation chromatography, and TEM. The work allows  unique regular packing arrangement at nanochemistry level.

Biomacromolecules, 2010, 1060. Argyropoulos et al.