Synthesis and characterization of novel cellulose ether sulfates

•We prepared new cellulose ether sulfates by homogeneous synthesis.•We used different sulfating agents and varied different reaction parameters.•All received product were water soluble.•The cellulose ether sulfates were characterized by Raman spectroscopy.•In principle polysaccharide sulfates show important biological activities.

The synthesis and characterization of novel cellulose sulfate derivatives was reported. Various cellulose ethers were prepared in a homogeneous reaction with common sulfating agents. The received product possess different properties in dependence on the reaction conditions like sulfating agent, solvent, reaction time and reaction temperature. The cellulose ether sulfates are all soluble in water, they rheological behavior could be determined by viscosity measurements and the determination of the sulfur content by elemental analysis lead to a resulting degree of substitution ascribed to sulfate groups (DSSul) of the product. A wide range of products from DSSul 0.1 to DSSul 2.7 will be obtained. Furthermore the cellulose sulfate ethers could be characterized by Raman spectroscopy.