Cellulose naphthoate (CNp) and its synthesis were first reported in this work.Using ionic liquid 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (AmimCl) as the reaction medium

homogeneous acelytion of cellulose with naphthoyl chloride was carried out under the mild reaction conditions

and a series of CNps with the degree of substitution (DS) in a range of 0.85~2.61 were synthesized.The DS values of CNps could be controlled by adjusting the reaction temperature

the reaction time and the molar ratio of naphthoyl chloride/anhydroglucose unit (AGU) in cellulose.The chemical structure and thermal properties of CNps were characterized by means of FTIR

NMR

DSC and TGA.With the increase of the DS

the glass transition temperature of CNp decreased.The synthesized CNps exhibited improved solubility in some organic solvents

and CNp films could be easily prepared by solution casting.The CNp exhibited strong ultraviolet absorption peaks at 323.2 nm

300.4 nm and 243.8 nm

which was similar to naphthalene.Meanwhile

the CNp also showed good fluorescence property in the range of 320~600 nm.Therefore

the synthesized CNp may have some potential applications in packing

gas separation membrane

coating

as well as some functional materials.