Thermoplastic cellulose esters are promising materials for bioplastic packaging. For that usage, it is important to understand their mechanical and surface wettability properties. In this study, a series of cellulose esters are prepared, such as laurate, myristate, palmitate, and stearate. The aim of the study is to investigate the tensile and surface wettability properties of the synthesized cellulose fatty acid esters to understand their suitability as a bioplastic packaging material. Cellulose fatty acid esters are first synthesized from microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), then dissolved in pyridine solution, and after the solvent cast into thin films. The cellulose fatty acid ester acylation process is characterized by the FTIR method. Cellulose esters hydrophobicity is evaluated with contact angle measurements. The mechanical properties of the films are tested with the tensile test. For all the synthesized films, FTIR provides clear evidence of acylation by showing the presence of characteristic peaks. Films’ mechanical properties are comparable to those of generally used plastics such as LDPE and HDPE. Furthermore, it appears that with an increase in the side-chain length, the water barrier properties showed improvement. These results show that they could potentially be suitable materials for films and packaging materials.

Properties of individual molecules of star-like polystyrene with calix[8]arene core in dilute chloroform solutions were studied using methods of static light scattering, translation diffusion, and viscometry. The solution behavior of the polymer investigated significantly differs from the properties of linear polymers. Star-like polystyrene macromolecules in solutions are characterized by compact structure—the hydrodynamic radius is not higher than 5.5 nm at M = 125,000 g⋅mol⁻¹. The shape of star-like polystyrene macromolecules differs slightly from spherical.

The transesterification of cellulose with vinyl esters in ionic liquid media is suggested as a prospective environmentally friendly alternative to conventional esterification. In this study, various long-chain cellulose esters (laurate, myristate, palmitate, and stearate) with a degree of substitution (DS) up to 1.8 have been synthesized in novel distillable ionic liquid, [mTBNH][OAC]. This IL has high dissolving power towards cellulose, which can improve homogeneous transesterification. Additionally, [mTBNH][OAC] has durability towards recycling and can be regenerated and re-used again for the next cycles of esterification. DMSO is used as a co-solvent because of its ability to speed up mass transport due to lower solvent viscosity. The optimization of the reaction parameters, such as co-solvent content, temperature (20–80 °C), reaction time (1–5 h), and a molar ratio of reactants (1–5 eq. AGU) is reported. It was found that within studied reaction conditions, DS increases with increasing reaction time, temperature, and added vinyl esters. Structure analysis using FTIR, ¹H, and ¹³C NMR after acylation revealed the introduction of the alkyl chains into cellulose for all studied samples. The results also suggested that the substitution order of the OH group is C7-O6 > C7-O2 > C7-O3. Unique, complex thermal and rheological investigation of the cellulose esters shows the growth of an amorphous phase upon the degree of substitution. At the same time, the homogeneous substitution of cellulose with acyl chains increases the melt viscosity of a material. Internal plasticization in cellulose esters was found to be the mechanism for the melt processing of the material. Long-chain cellulose esters show the potential to replace commonly used externally plasticized cellulose derivatives.