Glucose cellulose from

Quantitative release of glucose from cellulose requires a pretreatment with 72% H2SO4 (Jermyn, 1955), and the details of the method as applied to a-cellulose from pear cell walls have been described by Jermyn and Isherwood (1954). Essentially, quantitative release of the monosaccharides from purified cell walls has been achieved by treatment with 72%... 

Note that the fact that we do not make use of glucose from cellulose does not mean that cellulose is a useless or undesirable component of our diet. Dieticians speak of roughage , and the presence of this undigested bulk helps to maintain regularity and provide nourishment for the bacterial population of the colon. 

Cellulase catalyzes the hydrolysis of l,4-[S-glucosidic bonds in cellulose, lichenin, and other polysaccharides. One unit of cellulase activity releases 1 pmol of glucose from cellulose in 1 h at pH 5.0 and 37°C. Useful methods for determining the rate of glucose formation are described above, and may be employed for cellulase determination. 

In addition to starch as a source of glucose, it is also possible to obtain glucose by the enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose, although it has proved to be economically and technically challenging on an industrial scale because of the refractory nature of the cellulose polymer (see Section 16.8). Nevertheless, the enormous quantities of cellulose available in wood and other biomass sources make glucose from cellulose an attractive prospect. 

Humans have enzymes in saliva and pancreatic juices that break apart the a-l,4-glycosidic bonds of starches but not the j8-l,4-glycosidic bonds of cellulose. Thus, humans cannot digest cellulose. Animals such as horses, cows, and goats can obtain glucose from cellulose because their digestive systems contain bacteria that provide enzymes to break apart j8-l,4-glycosidic bonds. 

Professor Henri Braconnot (1780-1855) was a French chemist more famous for the extraction of glucose from cellulose and the discovery of a precursor form of plastic than for pigment research. However, he received a sample of pigment for analysis from a Mr Noel, the owner of a wallpaper factory in Nancy and published a paper on the preparation of copper acetate arsenite green in 1822, shortly after the German chemist Liebig (1822,1823). For more historical information see emerald green. 

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