The Typical Cellulose and the Cellulose Group 61 



may be diagnosed in this way with certainty, and bleachers' 

 damages may be thus ascertained and often traced back to 

 the operating cause in the light of this * oxy cellulose ' test. 

 (J. Soc. Chem. Ind. 1884.) 



The oxycellulose or disintegrated fibre resulting from this 

 process of oxidation differs but little in empirical composition 

 from cellulose itself, probably owing to the fact that the more 

 highly oxidised products are dissolved in the solution of the 

 oxidant, which is, of course, basic. Its reactions indicate 

 the presence of free CO groups, and it readily undergoes 

 further oxidation by atmospheric oxygen, the oxidation being 

 much accelerated by temperatures over 60. The OH groups 

 of this oxycellulose are also more reactive than those of the 

 original cellulose, acetylated derivatives being obtained by 

 boiling the product with acetic anhydride. 



The facts in relation to the conversion of cotton cellulose into 

 oxycellulose by the action of bleaching powder were first made 

 known by George Witz in 1883 (Bull. Soc. Ind. Rouen, 10, 416; 

 II, 169). 



Since when a number of papers have been published dealing 

 with special aspects of the phenomena theoretical and practical. 

 Of these we may cite : Schmidt, Dingl. J. 250, 271 ; Franchimont, 

 Rec. Trav. Chim. 1883, 241 ; Molting and Rosenstiehl, Bull 

 Rouen, 1883, 170, 239 ; Nastjukow, Bull. Mulhouse, 1892, 493. 



It is probable on many grounds that the oxidised products 

 obtained from cellulose by the action of the hypochlorites in 

 the manner described are mixtures of one or more oxycelluloses 

 with residues of unoxidised cellulose. More recent investiga- 

 tion has led to the conclusion that the extreme product of 

 oxidation is an oxycellulose of the empirical formula C 6 H 10 O 6 , 

 which is freely soluble in dilute alkaline solutions in the cold ; 

 and that cellulose oxidised by hypochlorite solutions is a 

 variable mixture of this product, with hydracellulose, and un- 

 altered cellulose. (Nastjukow.) 



