The concept of crystallinity has been a long-standing pillar of the characterization of cellulose and has led to many conceptual theories alongside some remarkable empirical observations that relate crystallinity with certain behaviors of cellulose. And although it has proved a highly useful concept in predicting digestibility of biomass in particular, there are multiple methods of quantifying crystallinity that rarely agree quantitatively and have very little strong connection to the molecular or structural nature of the cellulose they are measuring. With this motivation, we have embarked on a mission to connect simple x-ray diffraction patterns to molecular structure with the aim of interpreting patterns from a library of possible structures. We present here the results of creating a library of putative cellulose fibril structures and their associated patterns and how those patterns can combine to interpret patterns obtained from cellulose samples including treated and untreated plant cell walls. We also will present recent findings on modeling and simulation of fibril formation from individual gluten chains.<br/>

Cellulose crystallinity: What does it mean?

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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