تسجيل الدخول

تسجيل

Cellulose

المؤلف:  A. Ravve

المصدر:  Principles of Polymer Chemistry

الجزء والصفحة:  p539-540

2026-02-15

371

Cellulose

This polysaccharide is found widely in nature. It is a major constituent of plant tissues (50–70%, depending upon the wood), fibers, and leaf stalks. Chemically cellulose is 1,4-b-poly-anhydroglucose [12] (trans):

where n represents several thousand units. Hydrolysis of cellulose yields 95–96% D-glucose. This establishes its structure. Acetolysis of cellulose, however, yields cellobiose, a disaccharide, 4-O-b-D-glucopyranosyl-D-glucopyranose:

The structure of cellulose is, therefore, officially based on cellobiose units. Careful molecular weight measurements by many [12] established that the DP of cellulose ranges from 2,000 to 6,700, depending upon the source. The polymer is highly crystalline and is characterized by a very high degree of intermolecular and intramolecular hydrogen bonding. This prevents it from being thermo plastic as it decomposes upon heating without melting.