THE REACTIVITY OF CELLULOSE: III. THE NITRATION OF COTTON LINTERS ALTERNATELY WETTED WITH WATER AT VARIOUS TEMPERATURES AND DRIED, AND THE PROBABLE DISTRIBUTION OF THE NITRATE GROUPS

Cotton linters alternately wetted at 0° or 25° and dried show progressively greater ease of nitration paralleling the number of wetting–drying cycles. The reverse is found to be true for linters wetted at 50°, 75°, or 100°. Analysis of the data obtained from lead tetraacetate oxidation of the nitrates favors the depressive concept of nitration and indicates that the observed changes in reactivity occasioned by the wetting–drying treatments are largely due to greater alterations in the accessibility of the primary rather than the secondary hydroxyl groups.