Cellulose, biological degradation hydrolysis

Compared to starch, natural cellulose is much more crystalline and therefore more difficult to breakdown by any means. Some enzymes can catalyse oxidation reactions of either cellulose itself or the lower molecular weight oligomers produced from the enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose (Aubert et al., 1988). By incorporating esters groups in cellulose molecular chains, the crystalline structure of cellulose is disrupted as a result, cellulose esters show much lower crystallinity in comparison with the original cellulose and can be more readily degraded in active biological environments. 

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