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Concept
Cellulose
Summary
Cellulose is an organic compound with the formula (C6H10O5)n, a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to many thousands of β(1→4) linked D-glucose units. Cellulose is an important structural component of the primary cell wall of green plants, many forms of algae and the oomycetes. Some species of bacteria secrete it to form biofilms. Cellulose is the most abundant organic polymer on Earth. The cellulose content of cotton fiber is 90%, that of wood is 40–50%, and that of dried hemp is approximately 57%.
Cellulose is mainly used to produce paperboard and paper. Smaller quantities are converted into a wide variety of derivative products such as cellophane and rayon. Conversion of cellulose from energy crops into biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol is under development as a renewable fuel source. Cellulose for industrial use is mainly obtained from wood pulp and cotton.
Some animals, particularly ruminants and termites, can digest cellulose with the help of symbiotic micro-organisms that live in their guts, such as Trichonympha. In human nutrition, cellulose is a non-digestible constituent of insoluble dietary fiber, acting as a hydrophilic bulking agent for feces and potentially aiding in defecation.
Cellulose was discovered in 1838 by the French chemist Anselme Payen, who isolated it from plant matter and determined its chemical formula.Payen, A. (1838) "Mémoire sur la composition du tissu propre des plantes et du ligneux" (Memoir on the composition of the tissue of plants and of woody [material]), Comptes rendus, vol. 7, pp. 1052–1056. Payen added appendices to this paper on December 24, 1838 (see: Comptes rendus, vol. 8, p. 169 (1839)) and on February 4, 1839 (see: Comptes rendus, vol. 9, p. 149 (1839)). A committee of the French Academy of Sciences reviewed Payen's findings in : Jean-Baptiste Dumas (1839) "Rapport sur un mémoire de M. Payen, reltes rendus, vol. 8, pp. 51–53. In this report, the word "cellulose" is coined and author points out the similarity between the empirical formula of cellulose and that of "dextrine" (starch).
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