Effects of the accessible fraction of cellulose on some properties of its nitrates.

This Thesis concerns the influence upon the properties of cellulose nltr~te exerted by the moisture history of the original cellulose. It is shown that the wetting and direct redrying of highly swollen cotton llntera, followed by technioal nitrition, yields a nitrate whose nitrogen content is perceptibly diminished from the normal value. Systematic fractionation of such nitrates suggested that degredation during nitration was slightly less severe. In an effort to discover whether wetting and redrying of the cellulose eventuslly yielded nitrates in which the distribution of the nitrate groups in the cellulose\ macromolecule wae abnormal, technically nitrated products were oxidized with lead tetraacette. Although differences in the level of oxidation were observed,in these nitrates, and also in twelve commercial nitrocelluloses, the meaning of these differencee was not clarified. Published experiments to determine the effect of wetting and redrying on the physical structure of the celluloee were repeated. Although the work oould not be exactly reproduced, its main inference received some support