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Why do the authors carry out the trifluoroacetylation in toluene? What would be the result in trifluoroacetic acid/trifluoroacetic anhydride?

Toluene is used to avoid swelling of cellulose fibers which would result in modification on the surface as well as in the interior of the fibers. It has been reported that use of trifluoroacetic acid/trifluoroacetic anhydride results in partial degradation of cellulose polymer backbone. Why do the authors make the cellulose trifluoroacetate? What advantageous properties does it have? By making cellulose fiber surface hydrophobic, they could find potential applications in polymer composites field. Since fluorinated materials exhibit good hydrophobic-lipophobic properties, modifying cellulose fiber with fluorinated species would result in highly hydrophobic cellulose fiber surface. Also, apart from imparting hydrophobic character, this type of modification is reversible in nature with high reaction rates than other surface fluorination techniques reported in literature. This reversible character could find application in field such as papermaking industry where such change from hydrophobic to hydrophilic character could be desirable. Will cellulose trifluoroacetate become a commercial polymer? What disadvantage might prevent it from doing so? Cellulose trifluoroacetates can undergo rapid hydrolysis upon interacting with water or water vapors. This limits their commercial potential due to their low stability in ambient conditions.

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