Naturally occurring plant cellulose, our most abundant renewable resource, consists of fibers of long polymer chains that are tightly packed in parallel arrays in either of two crystal phases collectively referred to as cellulose I<i>.</i> During mercerization, a process that involves treatment with sodium hydroxide, cellulose goes through a conversion to another crystal form called cellulose II, within which every other chain has changed direction. How this happens has perplexed cellulose researchers for over half a century. We designed an ingenious neutron diffraction experiment to track the movement of deuterium labeled chains. Here we show that during mercerization of bacterial cellulose chains fold back on themselves in a zigzag pattern to form crystalline anti-parallel domains. This result provides a molecular level understanding of one of the most widely used industrial processes for improving cellulosic materials.

Untangling the threads of cellulose mercerization

ACS Spring 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.