What is difference between cellulose and hemicellulose?

Unlike cellulose, hemicelluloses consist of shorter chains – 500–3,000 sugar units. In contrast, each polymer of cellulose comprises 7,000–15,000 glucose molecules. In addition, hemicelluloses may be branched polymers, while cellulose is unbranched.

Cellulose hemicellulose and pectins are the basic building blocks of cell walls (Brummell and Harpster 2001). It is agreed that in the pant cell walls Cellulose macrofibrils are interlinked with hemicellulose fibrils via hydrogen bonds whereas pectins form an amorphous matrix (Geitmann 2010).

Hemicellulose is a heterogeneous polymer composed of Many sugars, such as xylose, arabinose, mannose, and galactose, that are C5 and C6 sugars. Hemicellulose is known as the second most abundant carbohydrate material and consists of 25%–35% dry weight wood material.

Hemicellulose

Hemicellulose is distinguished from cellulose by its Solubility in dilute alkali. The name hemicellulose applies to a variety of heterosaccharridic polymers which tend to be small (50-200 saccharide units) with branching present usually consisting of more than two sugars.

In 1891, Schulze proposed the name hemicellulose to those polysaccharides that could be extracted from plant biomass by alkaline solution (Norris and Preece, 1930). It was assumed that the polysaccharides are hydrolyzed more easily than cellulose and are related chemically and structurally to cellulose.

Diverse kinds of hemicelluloses are known. Important examples include Xylan, glucuronoxylan, arabinoxylan, glucomannan, and xyloglucan. Hemicelluloses are polysaccharides often associated with cellulose, but with distinct compositions and structures.

In addition to the aforementioned carbohydrates, diet also contains carbohydrates in the form of fiber, which is neither digestible nor absorbable by the human intestine. Fiber includes cellulose, hemicellulose, gums, pectins, and chitin, all derived from plant sources.

% NaOH at 60 ◦C for 1 h Was performed to solubilize hemicelluloses of the holocellulose. An unbleached cellulose pulp was then obtained 97% pure, which indicates that 89% of the hemicelluloses were removed.

The hemicelluloses isolated by aqueous alkali from wheat straw were, in general, Brown And this impedes their industrial utilization.

Cellulose and hemicellulose are two types of polymers that serve as structural components of the plant cell wall. Both of them are polysaccharides. Thus, Both cellulose and hemicellulose are made up of sugar monomers. Cellulose is produced by the polymerization of exclusively β-glucose monomers.

From the water insoluble ingested hemicelluloses 27.5% were excreted from the small bowel, 4.0% from normal subjects. That is Approximately 96% digestion of the hemicelluloses in normal subjects.

Definition of hemicellulose

: Any of various plant polysaccharides less complex than cellulose and easily hydrolyzable to monosaccharides and other products.

Hemicelluloses are A heterogeneous group of polysaccharides that occupy the spaces between cellulose fibrils within the cell walls of plants and sometimes form the plant cell wall matrix with pectin. Cereals are the source of important hemicelluloses, such as arabinoxylans and arabinogalactans.

Hemicelluloses are polysaccharides in plant cell walls that have β-(1→4)-linked backbones with an equatorial configuration. Hemicelluloses include xyloglucans, xylans, mannans and glucomannans, and β-(1→3,1→4)-glucans.

Lignin is an important organic polymer which is abundant in cell walls of some specific cells. It has many biological functions such as Water transport, mechanical support and resistance to various stresses.

Cellulose, hemicelluloses, and pectins in citrus fruits are A source of dietary fiber.

In the sense of physical structure, the lignin is located in the outer cell wall of biomass. In general, Cellulose is located within a lignin shell, while the hemicellulose with a random and amorphous structure is located within the cellulose and between the cellulose and lignin.