Ionic Liquids as Environmental Benign Solvents for Cellulose Chemistry: A Review

The application of cellulose and its derivatives is restricted because of their limited solubility in water and many organic solvents. Recently, several attempts are being made to dissolve them in inorganic and organic solvents. The solubility of these polymeric materials mainly depends upon their molecular weight, pH, and source of origin. Nowadays, there has been a new breakthrough of applying ionic liquids (ILs; designer solvents) in the field of cellulose solvent chemistry. Association of ionic liquids with several salient features such as high thermal, chemical and low vapor pressure, and so on makes them ideal environmentally green solvents to be used for cellulose. The present chapter deals with a collection of some major works in which ionic liquids have been used as solvents for cellulose dissolution. The articles also describe the works illustrating the use of ionic liquids as cosolvents (organic aprotic solvents) for the better increase of the solvent activity (solubility).