Cellulose

The existence of cellulose as the common material of plant cell walls was first recognized by
Anselm Payen in 1838. It occurs in almost pure form in cotton fiber and in combination with
other materials, such as lignin and hemicelluloses, in wood, plant leaves and stalks, etc.
Although generally considered a plant material, cellulose is also produced by some bacteria.
It has been accepted for many years that cellulose is a long
chain polymer, made up of repeating units of glucose, a simple
sugar. In the early 1900s, cellulose was further characterized
by Cross and Bevan. They removed the related plant materials
that occur in combination with cellulose by dissolving them in a
concentrated sodium hydroxide solution. They designated the
undissolved residue as -cellulose. The soluble materials
(designated as -cellulose and -cellulose) were later shown
not to be celluloses, but rather, relatively simple sugars and other carbohydrates. The cellulose of Cross and Bevan is what is usually meant when the term "cellulose" is used now.
As a carbohydrate, the chemistry of cellulose is primarily the chemistry of alcohols; and it forms
many of the common derivatives of alcohols, such as esters, ethers, etc. These derivatives form
the basis for much of the industrial technology of cellulose in use today. Cellulose derivatives
are used commercially in two ways, as transient intermediates or as permanent products.
Because of the strong hydrogen bonds that occur between cellulose chains, cellulose does not
melt or dissolve in common solvents. Thus, it is difficult to convert the short fibers from wood
pulp into the continuous filaments needed for artificial silk, an early goal of cellulose chemistry.
Several different cellulose derivatives were examined as early routes to artificial silk, but only
two, the acetate and xanthate esters, are of commercial importance for fibers today.
Cellulose is one of many polymers found in nature. Wood, paper, and cotton all contain
cellulose. Cellulose is an excellent fiber. Wood, cotton, and hemp rope are all made of fibrous
cellulose. Cellulose is made of repeat units of the monomer glucose. This is the same glucose
which your body metabolizes in order to live, but you can't digest it in the form of cellulose.
Because cellulose is built out of a sugar monomer, it is called a polysaccharide. Cellulose has
an important place in the story of polymers because it was used to make some of the first
synthetic polymers, like cellulose nitrate, cellulose acetate, and rayon.
Another cellulose derivative is hydroxyethylcellulose. It differs from plain ol' regular cellulose in
that some or all of the hydroxyl groups of the glucose repeat unit have been replaced with
hydroxyethyl ether groups. These hydroxyethyl groups get in the way when the polymer tries to
crystallize. Because it can't crystallize, hydroxyethylcellulose is soluble in water. In addition to
being a great laxative, it's used to thicken shampoos as well. It also makes the soap in the
shampoo less foamy, and it helps the shampoo clean better by forming colloids around dirt
particles.
Cellulose has many uses as an anticake agent, emulsifier, stabilizer, dispersing agent,
thickener, and gelling agent but these are generally subsidiary to its most important use of
holding on to water. Dry amorphous cellulose absorbs water becoming soft and flexible. Some
of this water is non-freezing but most is simply trapped. Less water is bound by direct hydrogen
bonding if the cellulose has high crystallinity but some fibrous cellulose products can hold on to
considerable water in pores and its typically straw-like cavities; water holding ability correlating
well with the amorphous (surface area effect) and void fraction (i.e. the porosity). As such water
is supercoolable, this effect may protect against ice damage. Cellulose can give improved
volume and texture, particularly as a fat replacer in sauces and dressings, but its insolubility
means that all products will be cloudy.
Swelled bacterial cellulose (ex. Acetobacter xylinum) exhibits pseudoplastic viscosity like
xanthan gels but this viscosity is not lost at high temperatures and low shear rates as the

cellulose can retain its structure. Where individual cellulose strands are surrounded by water
they are flexible and do not present contiguous hydrophobic surfaces.