Cellulose as a polymer
Cellulose is a polysaccharide found in the cell walls of plants. It consists of long chains of beta-D-glucose molecules linked by 1-4 glycosidic bonds which were formed by condensation polymerisation. These glycosidic linkages encourage the polymer chains to adopt a linear structure. The celluose molecule consists of a number of these polymer chains joined together by hydrogen bondsCotton is an excellent source of cellulose . Each cotton fibre is just a single cell. The cell wall is made of cellulose, containing approximately 9000 glucose molecules. The polymer chains themselves held by the hydrogen bonds chains are aligned in bundles, called microfibrils orientated along the fibre. Cotton is highly crystalline. This means that most of the glucose chains of the cellulose are closely packed in a regular way, making it a tough and fibrous polymer. So it follows that cotton fibres are stiff and have a high tensile strength which means that the are not likely to break when stretched. Cellulose itself has a large number of hydroxyl groups on the polymer chains and so cotton is a able to absorb a large amount of water without feeling wet. A number of different cellulose-based artificial fibres were manufactured in the ea
. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
, Tricel Tricel, polymer chains, cuprammonium process, hydrogen bonds, cellulose xanthate forced, acid ethanoic, held hydrogen bonds, sodium cellulose xanthate, crystallinity strength, fibres cotton, sodium cellulose, held hydrogen, process involves, strength lyocell,
Approximate Word count = 1076
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
 |
