TY - JOUR A1 - Ermeydan, Mahmut Ali A1 - Cabane, Etienne A1 - Hass, Philipp A1 - Koetz, Joachim A1 - Burgert, Ingo T1 - Fully biodegradable modification of wood for improvement of dimensional stability and water absorption properties by poly(epsilon-caprolactone) grafting into the cell walls JF - Green chemistry : an international journal and green chemistry resource N2 - Materials derived from renewable resources are highly desirable in view of more sustainable manufacturing. Among the available natural materials, wood is one of the key candidates, because of its excellent mechanical properties. However, wood and wood-based materials in engineering applications suffer from various restraints, such as dimensional instability upon humidity changes. Several wood modification treatments increase water repellence, but the insertion of hydrophobic polymers can result in a composite material which cannot be considered as renewable anymore. In this study, we report on the grafting of the fully biodegradable poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL) inside the wood cell walls by Sn(Oct)(2) catalysed ring-opening polymerization (ROP). The presence of polyester chains within the wood cell wall structure is monitored by confocal Raman imaging and spectroscopy as well as scanning electron microscopy. Physical tests reveal that the modified wood is more hydrophobic due to the bulking of the cell wall structure with the polyester chains, which results in a novel fully biodegradable wood material with improved dimensional stability. Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c4gc00194j SN - 1463-9262 SN - 1463-9270 VL - 16 IS - 6 SP - 3313 EP - 3321 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ermeydan, Mahmut Ali A1 - Cabane, Etienne A1 - Gierlinger, Notburga A1 - Koetz, Joachim A1 - Burgert, Ingo T1 - Improvement of wood material properties via in situ polymerization of styrene into tosylated cell walls JF - RSC Advances N2 - As an engineering material derived from renewable resources, wood possesses excellent mechanical properties in view of its light weight but also has some disadvantages such as low dimensional stability upon moisture changes and low durability against biological attack. Polymerization of hydrophobic monomers in the cell wall is one of the potential approaches to improve the dimensional stability of wood. A major challenge is to insert hydrophobic monomers into the hydrophilic environment of the cell walls, without increasing the bulk density of the material due to lumen filling. Here, we report on an innovative and simple method to insert styrene monomers into tosylated cell walls (i.e. -OH groups from natural wood polymers are reacted with tosyl chloride) and carry out free radical polymerization under relatively mild conditions, generating low wood weight gains. In-depth SEM and confocal Raman microscopy analysis are applied to reveal the distribution of the polystyrene in the cell walls and the lumen. The embedding of polystyrene in wood results in reduced water uptake by the wood cell walls, a significant increase in dimensional stability, as well as slightly improved mechanical properties measured by nanoindentation. Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c4ra00741g SN - 2046-2069 VL - 4 IS - 25 SP - 12981 EP - 12988 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ermeydan, Mahmut Ali A1 - Cabane, Etienne A1 - Masic, Admir A1 - Koetz, Joachim A1 - Burgert, Ingo T1 - Flavonoid insertion into cell walls improves wood properties JF - ACS applied materials & interfaces N2 - Wood has an excellent mechanical performance, but wider utilization of this renewable resource as an engineering material is limited by unfavorable properties such as low dimensional stability upon moisture changes and a low durability. However, some wood species are known to produce a wood of higher quality by inserting mainly phenolic substances in the already formed cell walls a process so-called heartwood formation. In the present study, we used the heartwood formation in black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) as a source of bioinspiration and transferred principles of the modification in order to improve spruce wood properties (Picea abies) by a chemical treatment with commercially available flavonoids. We were able to effectively insert hydrophobic flavonoids in the cell wall after a tosylation treatment for activation. The chemical treatment reduced the water uptake of the wood cell walls and increased the dimensional stability of the bulk spruce wood. Further analysis of the chemical interaction of the flavonoid with the structural cell wall components revealed the basic principle of this bioinspired modification. Contrary to established modification treatments, which mainly address the hydroxyl groups of the carbohydrates with hydrophilic substances, the hydrophobic flavonoids are effective by a physical bulking in the cell wall most probably stabilized by pi-pi interactions. A biomimetic transfer of the underlying principle may lead to alternative cell wall modification procedures and improve the performance of wood as an engineering material. KW - wood cell wall KW - heartwood formation KW - chemical modification KW - Raman spectroscopy KW - dimensional stability KW - nanoindentation Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/am301266k SN - 1944-8244 VL - 4 IS - 11 SP - 5782 EP - 5789 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER -