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CELLULOSE

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 606 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

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CELLULOSE , the name given to both an individual—cellulose proper, in the restricted sense of a chemical individual—and to a See also:

GROUP

group of substances, the celluloses or cellulose group, which constitute in infinitely varied forms the containing envelope of the plant See also:

CELL (from Lat. cella, probably from an Indo-European kal —seen in Lat. celare, to hide; another suggestion connects the word with Lat. cera, wax, taking the original meaning to refer to the honeycomb)

cell. They are complex carbohydrates, or " saccharocolloids " (Tollens), and are resolved by ultimate See also:

HYDROLYSIS (Gr. 6Swp, water, Anew, to loosen)

hydrolysis into monoses. The typical cellulose is represented by the empirical See also:

formula CSH1005, identical with that of See also:

STARCH

starch, with which it has many chemical analogies as well as physiological correlations. The representative " cellulose " is the See also:

main constituent of the 'See also:

cotton fibre substance, and is obtainable by treating the raw fibre with boiling dilute alkalis, followed by See also:

CHLORINE (symbol Cl, atomic weight 35`46 (0=16)

chlorine See also:

gas or See also:

BROMINE (symbol Br, atomic weight 79-96)

bromine See also:

WATER

water, or simply by alkaline oxidants. The cellulose thus purified is further treated with dilute acids, and then exhaustively with See also:

ALCOHOL

alcohol and See also:

ETHER, (C2H5)2O

ether. Chemical See also:

FILTER (a word common in various forms to most European languages, adapted from the medieval Lat. fi-ltrum, felt, a material used as a filtering agent)

filter-See also:

paper (See also:

SWEDISH

Swedish) is practically pure cellulose, the final See also:

PURIFICATION

purification consisting in exhaustive treatment with hydrofluoric See also:

ACID (from the Lat. root ac-, sharp; acere, to be sour)

acid to remove silicious inorganic residues. The " cellulose " group, however, comprises a See also:

SERIES (a Latin word from serere, to join)

series of substances which; while presenting the characters generally similar to those of cotton cellulose, also exhibit marked divergences. The resemblances are maintained in their synthetical reactions; but reactions involving the decomposition of the complex show many See also:

variations. For example, cotton cellulose is difficultly hydrolysed; other celluloses are more or less readily split up by dilute acids, the extreme members readily yielding sugars: the hexosesdextrose; mannose and galactose; and the pentoses—xylose and arabinose; these less resistant cell-See also:

wall constituents are termed hemi-celluloses. The celluloses proper are essentially non-nitrogenous, though originating in the cell See also:

PROTOPLASM

protoplasm. The cell-walls of the See also:

LOWER

lower cryptogams, similarly purified, retain a notable proportion -2•o-4.0%—of constitutional See also:

NITROGEN [symbol N., atomic weight 14.01, 0=16]

nitrogen. When hydrolysed these fungoid celluloses yield, in addition to monoses, glucosamine and acetic acid.

The celluloses of the phanerogams are generally associated, in a degree ranging from See also:

PHYSICAL

physical mixture to chemical See also:

union, with other complicated substances, constituting the " See also:

compound celluloses.” The nature of the associated See also:

groups affords a convenient See also:

CLASSIFICATION (Lat. classis, a class, probably from the root cal-, cla-, as in Gr. icaMce, clamor)

classification into pecto-celluloses, ligno-celluloses and cuto-celluloses. Pectocelluloses are so named because the associated substances—carbohydrates, together with their oxidation products, i.e. containing either two carbonyls (CO) in the unit group or carboxyl (CO.OH) groups in a complex—are readily hydrolysed by weak acids to the gelatinous " pectic acids " or their salts. Ligno-celluloses are the substances of lignified See also:

TISSUE (Fr. tissu, tissue, participle of tisser, Lat. texere, to weave)

tissue, the See also:

van-cellulose constituents of which are characterized by the presence of benzenoid and furfuroid groups; and although essentially complex,they may be regarded as homogeneous, and are conveniently grouped under the name lignone. The lignone complex reacts, by its unsaturated groups, with the See also:

HALOGENS

halogens. It is a complex containing but little hydroxyl; and is of relatively high See also:

CARBON (symbol C, atomic weight 12)

carbon percentage (s5.0-57.0%). Culo-celluloses predominate in the protective coatings of plant See also:

ORGANS

organs, and are characterized by constituent groups, the decomposition products of which are compounds of the fatty series, and also See also:

wax See also:

alcohols, acids, cholesterols, &c. The typical pecto-cellulose is the See also:

FLAX

flax fibre, i.e. the bast fibre of the flax plant (Linum usitatissimum), as it occurs in the plant, or as the commercial textile fibre in its raw See also:

state. See also:

RHEA

Rhea, or See also:

RAMIE (RHEA, CHINA-GRASS)

ramie, is another leading textile fibre in which the cellulose occurs associated with See also:

ALKALI

alkali-soluble colloidal carbohydrates. Pecto-celluloses are found in the stems of the Gramineae (cereal straws, See also:

ESPARTO, or SPANISH GRASS

esparto), and in the fibro-vascular bundles of monocotyledons used as textile and rope-making See also:

fibres. They are the See also:

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

chief constituents of the fleshy parenchyma of fruits, tubers, rhizomes. Ligno-celluloses find their chemical representative in the jute fibre. They constitute the 'See also:

woods, and are therefore of the widest See also:

DISTRIBUTION (Lat. distribuere, to deal out)

distribution and the highest See also:

INDUSTRIAL

industrial utility.

It is important to See also:

note that a complex having all the chemical characteristics of a ligno-cellulose occurs in a soluble colloidal See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form in the juice of the See also:

white See also:

CURRANT

currant. The formation of lignocellulose is the chemical See also:

EQUIVALENT

equivalent of the morphological See also:

CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. «a urmu', to bend)

change of the plant cell known as " lignification." The typical cutocelluloses are the epidermal tissues of all growing See also:

PLANTS

plants or organs, which are easily detached from the underlying tissues which it is their See also:

FUNCTION

function to protect. To subserve this function, they are extremely resistant to the attack of reagents. The associated groups are mostly of the normal saturated series, and of very high molecular See also:

WEIGHT

weight. Cellulose andBotanicalScience.-Theelaboration of cellulose, i. e. of the cell walls, and its morphological and physiological aspects are discussed in the articles PLANTS: See also:

PHYSIOLOGY (from Gr. 4 i s, nature, and koyos, discourse)

Physiology, See also:

Anatomy: and See also:

CYTOLOGY (from huros, a hollow vessel, and X6yos, science)

CYTOLOGY; while in the See also:

ARTICLE (from Lat. articulus, a joint)

article See also:

COAL

COAL the See also:

PART

part played by cellulose in the formation of these deposits receives treatment: here we may See also:

DEAL

deal with its See also:

general relation to See also:

agriculture. In the See also:

ANALYSIS (Gr. avci and Meta, to break up into parts)

analysis of See also:

FODDER

fodder plants and other See also:

VEGETABLE

vegetable produce, the See also:

RESIDUE (through the French, from the Lat. residuum, a remainder, from residere, to remain)

residue obtained after successive acid and alkaline hydrolysis is the " crude fibre " of the agricultural chemist, and is generally taken as a measure of the actual cellulose contents of the raw material. We give in See also:

TABULAR

tabular form the See also:

AVERAGE

average percentage of crude fibre in typical See also:

food-stuffs and agricultural produce: SEEDS Seeds of Cereals. Per cent of Leguminous and Per cent of Fibre. Oil Seeds. Fibre. See also:

Wheat 2.8 See also:

Rape 6.4 See also:

BARLEY (Hordeum sativum)

Barley 6.3 Cotton 7.5 Oats . 9.0 Beans .

. Io•o See also:

MAIZE, or INDIAN CORN

Maize . 5.2 Peas . Io•o See also:

Rye 8•o Lentils lo•o See also:

Rice .

End of Article: CELLULOSE

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