provided by the
USDA Forest Products Laboratory and used as received. The CNCs were
freeze-dried from an aqueous CNC suspension prepared from a mixed
southern yellow pine dissolving pulp via a 64% sulfuric acid digestion,
as described in detail elsewhere.39 (link) The
umCNCs were determined to contain 0.96% sulfur as residual sulfate
esters. The counterion to the sulfate esters was Na+. The
bifunctional modifier molecule, 2-isocyanatoethyl methacrylate (IEM),
was purchased from TCI America, stabilized with butyl hydroxytoluene
at >98% purity. Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO, anhydrous, ≥99.9%),
dimethylformamide (DMF, anhydrous, 99.8%), benzoyl peroxide (BPO,
Luperox A98) and isocyanate catalyst, dibutyltin dilaurate (DBTDL),
were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich and used as received. Molecular
sieves (MS, type 3A, EMD Millipore MX 1583D-1) and toluene (ACS, 99.5%)
were purchased from Alfa Aesar and used as received.