Bifunctional etherification of a bead cellulose for ligand attachment with allyl bromide and allyl glycidyl ether

Efficient carboxymethylation of a bead cellulose was achieved with dimethyl sulphoxide-water mixtures but low activation levels were found with epoxidation reagents. The highest activation levels were obtained with allyl bromide and allyl glycidyl ether. This was attributed to the relative inertness of the allyl group towards water and cellulose, limiting hydrolysis and crosslinking. Advantages over epoxidation chemistry for bead cellulose were efficient reagent use, reproducible activation up to high levels and specificity of matrix modification. Predictable activation was obtained and facile titration methods were developed. Efficient activations of agarose and methacrylate matrices were also obtained with the allyl reagents.