Structural analysis of cellulose triacetate polymorphs by two-dimensional solid-state 13C–13C and 1H–13C correlation NMR spectroscopies

For the elucidation of the crystal structures of the two crystalline allomorphs of cellulose triacetate (CTA), namely CTA I and CTA II, two-dimensional (2D) solid-state through-bond 13C–13C and 1H–13C correlations NMR techniques applied to the two crystalline allomorphs of CTA. As a result, the 13C and 1H chemical shifts of the glucopyranose ring of CTA I and CTA II were completely assigned by the 2D NMR spectra of these allomorphs. On the 2D 13C–13C correlation spectrum of CTA II, two sets of the 13C–13C correlations from C1 to C6 were observed. This indicated that the CP/MAS 13C NMR spectrum of CTA II can be characterized by its overlapping of the 13C subspectra of two kinds of 2,3,6-triacetyl-anhydroglucopyranose units and that there are two magnetically non-equivalent sites in the unit cell of CTA II. In the case of CTA I, the numbers of respective 13C and 1H shifts of CTA I agreed with the those of the glucopyranose residue in the allomorph, strongly suggesting that the asymmetric unit of CTA I is only one glucose residue. In addition, conformational differences in the exocyclic C5–C6 bonds between CTA I and CTA II were strongly suggested by the notable differences in the 1H and 13C chemical shifts at the C6 sites of these allomorphs.