Study of Microstructure and Molecular Dynamics of Cotton and Cellulose Fibers by Methods of Physical Labels

Methods of physical labelling have been proved to be a powerful tool for solving a number of problems in chemistry, physics and biology at a molecular level. This review concisely describes all the principle aspects of the application methods of nitroxide spin and luminescence labelling for the investigation of cotton fibres and cellulose: Chemical modification by the labels, with the use of Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) and fluorescence and phosphorescence techniques for the measurement of molecular dynamic parameters of the labelled samples’ molecular dynamics, their distribution, and the label location in objects of interest. Experimental data on dependencies of the fibres’ molecular dynamics on origin, temperature, water and other plasticising agents, nutrition, period of maturing and radiation have been presented. ESR experiments have revealed a strong dependence of fibres’ resistance to stress on microscopic structural defects. The developed combined spin and luminescence labelling approach, the efficiency of which is demonstrated in this review, can be used in the investigation of molecular dynamics, microstructure polymers and other complex molecular objects.