Chagas, RicardoGericke, MartinFerreira, Ricardo B.Heinze, ThomasFerreira, Luísa M.2020-03-102022-02-082020-03-010969-0239PURE: 16407388PURE UUID: 8f0e2e6c-8bdf-4dcb-9d50-bcafebef2331Scopus: 85077370204WOS: 00516629700009ORCID: /0000-0001-8474-3925/work/77272252http://hdl.handle.net/10362/94102Associate Laboratory for Green Chemistry-LAQV which is financed by national funds from FCT/MCTES (UID/QUI/50006/2019). FCT, Portugal (ROTEIRO/0031/2013–PINFRA/22161/2016, co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE 2020, POCI, and PORL and FCT through PIDDAC).Synthesis of dicarboxymethyl cellulose (DCMC) under heterogeneous conditions was examined. Cellulose was etherified using sodium bromomalonate in isopropanol/water in the presence of NaOH. The reaction was performed with five different NaOH concentrations (5–30 w/v %) and the products were characterized by anion-exchange high-performance liquid chromatography (AE-HPLC), inductively coupled plasma atomic emission- (ICP-AES), Fourier transform infrared- (FTIR), and nuclear magnetic resonance (1D-/2D-NMR) spectroscopy. Adjusting the amount of NaOH resulted in increasing functionalization of the cellulose achieving an average degree of substitution (DS) between 0.05 and 0.51. Both ICP-AES and AE-HPLC gave comparable DS values. NMR spectroscopic analysis showed that etherification occurred preferably at O-6 and, to a certain extent, at the secondary positions depending on the reaction conditions. Graphic abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.].959789engCellulose etherCellulose functionalizationDicarboxymethyl celluloseHeterogeneous derivatizationPolymers and Plasticsjournal article10.1007/s10570-019-02952-6https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85077370204