AbstractThe intrinsic viscosities, [η], of nine cellulose samples, with molar masses from 50 × 103 to 1 390 × 103 were determined in the solvents NMMO*H2O (N‐methyl morpholin N‐oxide hydrate) at 80°C and in cuen (copper II‐ethlenediamine) at 25°C. The evaluation of these results with respect to the Kuhn–Mark–Houwink relations shows that the data for NMMO*H2O fall on the usual straight line in the double logarithmic plots only for M ≤ 158 103; the corresponding [η]/M relation reads log ([η]/mL g−1) = –1.465 + 0.735 log M. Beyond that molar mass [η] remains almost constant up to M ≈ 106 and increases again thereafter. In contrast to NMMO*H2O the cellulose solutions in cuen behave normal and the Kuhn–Mark–Houwink relation reads log ([η]/mL g−1) = −1.185 + 0.735 log M. Possible reasons for the dissimilarities of the behavior of cellulose in these two solvents are being discussed. The comparison of three different methods for the determination of [η] from viscosity measurements at different polymer concentrations, c, demonstrates the advantages of plotting the natural logarithm of the relative viscosities as a function of c. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011