Determination of the acetyl group DS of cellulose acetate

This methods is part of the book:
Klemm, D., et al. “Comprehensive cellulose chemistry: v. 2: functionalization of cellulose: functionalization of cellulose.” (1998).

0.5 g of dry cellulose acetate is swollen in 25 ml of an acetone/water mixture (1:1 by volume) for 24 h at room temperature. Then 12.5 ml of 1 N KOH in ethanol are added, and a complete deacetylation is formed by keeping this mixture for 24 h at room temperature. The excess of alkali is titrated with N/2 aqueous HCl using phenolpthalein as indicator, and an excess of 2 ml of N/2 HCl is added, which is back-titrated after 24 h with N/2 NaOH. From the titration result, the total amount of alkali consumed for saponification of the acetyl groups/g of sample is obtained. Calculation of ‘% of bound acetic acid’ and DSAcetyl is performed accoding to

Reference:
Procedure of the Fraunhofer Institute of Applied Polymer Research, Teltow-Seehof.