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204. French, A.D., N. R. Bertoniere, R. M. Brown, Jr., H. Chanzy, D. Gray, K. Hattori, and W. Glasser. 2003. Cellulose. In The Encyclopedia of Polymer Science and Technology, Ed. J. I. Kroscwitz. 3rd Ed. Vol 5, John Wiley & Sons, New York. Pp 473-507.
204. Abstract -
Cellulose [9004-34-6], characterized by Anselme Payen in 1838 (1), is the
main molecule in cell walls of higher plants. The name cellulose indicates that
it is the sugar (the "ose") from cells, and we now know that cellulose consists
of a long chain, or polymer, of glucose units (Fig. 1). Cellulose is also formed
by some algae, fungi, bacteria, the ameboid protozoan Dictyostelium discoideum,
and a group of marine animals, the tunicates. It has even been reported in
humans suffering from the rare disease of scleroderma (2). The secondary cell
walls of cotton fibers are almost pure (about 94%) cellulose. In other plant
sources such as the wood of mature trees, cellulose is enmeshed in as much as
36% lignin, a three-dimensional polymer of several aromatic compounds. About 7.5
x 1010 t of cellulose grow and disappear each year, establishing it as the most
abundant regenerated organic material on earth.
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