High-Temperature Behavior of Cellulose I

Investigating the thermal decomposition of starch and cellulose in model systems and toasted bread using domino tandem mass spectrometry

Many dietary products containing polysaccharides, mostly starch and cellulose, are processed by thermal treatment. Similarly to the formation of caramel from mono- and disaccharides, the chemical structure of the carbohydrates is dramatically altered by heat treatment. This contribution investigates the products of thermal decomposition of pure starch and cellulose as model systems followed by an investigation of bread obtained at comparable conditions using a combination of modern mass spectrometry techniques. From both starch and cellulose, dehydrated oligomers of glucose and dehydrated glucose have been predominately observed, with oligomers of more than four glucose moieties dominating. Moreover, disproportionation and oligomers with up to six carbohydrates units are formed through unselective glycosidic bond breakage. MALDI-MS data confirm the presence of the majority of products in toasted bread.

Structure of cellulose microfibrils in primary cell walls from collenchyma

In the primary walls of growing plant cells, the glucose polymer cellulose is assembled into long microfibrils a few nanometers in diameter. The rigidity and orientation of these microfibrils control cell expansion; therefore, cellulose synthesis is a key factor in the growth and morphogenesis of plants. Celery (Apium graveolens) collenchyma is a useful model system for the study of primary wall microfibril structure because its microfibrils are oriented with unusual uniformity, facilitating spectroscopic and diffraction experiments. Using a combination of x-ray and neutron scattering methods with vibrational and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, we show that celery collenchyma microfibrils were 2.9 to 3.0 nm in mean diameter, with a most probable structure containing 24 chains in cross section, arranged in eight hydrogen-bonded sheets of three chains, with extensive disorder in lateral packing, conformation, and hydrogen bonding. A similar 18-chain structure, and 24-chain structures of different shape, fitted the data less well. Conformational disorder was largely restricted to the surface chains, but disorder in chain packing was not. That is, in position and orientation, the surface chains conformed to the disordered lattice constituting the core of each microfibril. There was evidence that adjacent microfibrils were noncovalently aggregated together over part of their length, suggesting that the need to disrupt these aggregates might be a constraining factor in growth and in the hydrolysis of cellulose for biofuel production.

Overview of computer modeling of cellulose

Although it has a deceptively simple primary structure, the collective organization of bulk cellulose, particularly as it exists in cellulose fibers in the cell walls of living plants and other organisms, is quite diverse and complex. While some experimental techniques, such as vibrational spectroscopy and diffraction from partially crystalline samples, are able to provide insights into the organization of bulk cellulose, its intrinsic complexity has left many questions still unanswered. For this reason, additional probes of cellulose structure would be highly desirable. With the continuing advances in computer power through massive parallelization, and the steady progress in computer codes and force fields for modeling carbohydrate systems, molecular mechanics simulations have become an attractive means of studying cellulosic systems at the atomic and molecular level. The coming decade will almost certainly see remarkable advances in the understanding of cellulose using such simulations.

Nanostructure of cellulose microfibrils in spruce wood

The structure of cellulose microfibrils in wood is not known in detail, despite the abundance of cellulose in woody biomass and its importance for biology, energy, and engineering. The structure of the microfibrils of spruce wood cellulose was investigated using a range of spectroscopic methods coupled to small-angle neutron and wide-angle X-ray scattering. The scattering data were consistent with 24-chain microfibrils and favored a "rectangular" model with both hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces exposed. Disorder in chain packing and hydrogen bonding was shown to increase outwards from the microfibril center. The extent of disorder blurred the distinction between the I alpha and I beta allomorphs. Chains at the surface were distinct in conformation, with high levels of conformational disorder at C-6, less intramolecular hydrogen bonding and more outward-directed hydrogen bonding. Axial disorder could be explained in terms of twisting of the microfibrils, with implications for their biosynthesis.

Ab initio study of structure and interconversion of native cellulose phases

Dispersion-interaction corrected DFT simulations are performed to study the structure of two allomorphs of native cellulose I. Good agreement between theoretical and experimental data is achieved. Two H-bond patterns, previously identified experimentally, are examined for both allomorphs. The transition mechanism for the conversion between the phase I(α) and I(β) is studied by means of constrained relaxations. New metastable intermediate phase occurring on the I(α) → I(β) route is identified, and the corresponding structural data are reported.