Polymeric Interaction in the Plant Cell Wall

Cross-linking between polysaccharide-polysaccharide units can occur in different forms such as ester-linked hydroxycinnamate dimers (Ralph et al., 2004), ferulic acid and/orp-coumaric acid monomers as cyclic dimers (Grabber et al., 2004), and direct linkage between polysaccharides and xyloglucans (Harris and Stone, 2009). Some important interactions between lignin and polysaccharides in the cell walls are the following  

Cross-linking between polymers is the main reason for the limited accessibility of polysaccharides, while lignin replaces water, thereby increasing the occurrence of hydrogen bonds between hemicelluloses, polysaccharides, and cellulosic microfibrils (Donaldson, 2001). 

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