145
7
BOX: The Discovery of Cellulose
Cellulose was discovered in 1834
by the French chemist Anselme
Payen (1795–1871) (. Fig. 7.2).
He examined wood by treating
it with nitric acid and caustic
soda and extracted a substance
from the plant cells (French: les
cellules des plantes) of the wood,
which he called “cellulose”. At
the same time, he introduced
the suffix “-ose”, which was later
used for all carbohydrates. He
also found cellulose in cotton,
decomposed it into glucose
units and discovered that it had
the same elemental composition
as starch.
O
OH
HO
O
HO
CH 2 OH
O
OH
O
CH 2 OH
O
OH
O
HO
CH 2 OH
n
OH
O
CH 2 OH
HO
OH
HO
1
2
2
1
4
4
Cellobiose-unit
. Fig. 7.1 The polymer chain of cellulose
. Fig. 7.2 The discoverer of cellulose,
Anselme Payen (© Wikipedia)
7.1 · Occurrence and Production of Cellulose