Cellulose is the structural carbohydrate that provides strength and rigidity to trees, blades of grass, stalks of wheat, bolls of cotton and is one of the most abundant biological polymers in the world. It is where most of the carbon from the photosynthetic conversion of CO2 to O2 is deposited. Chemically, cellulose is comprised of a series of glucose units linked in the β-configuration at sequential 1 and 4 positions. While at the elementary level it is very similar in structure to starch, the single change in the linkage from α to β alters its functional properties.
Cellulose
Cellulose is the structural carbohydrate that provides strength and rigidity to trees, blades of grass, stalks of wheat, bolls of cotton and is one of the most abundant biological polymers in the world. It is where most of the carbon from the photosynthetic conversion of CO2 to O2 is deposited.