AbstractsChemistry

Since the discovery by means of X-ray diffraction that cellulose is partially crystalline, the arrangement of the molecules in various types of native and regenerated cellulose has been the subject of intensive study using a variety of experimental methods. This thesis describes an investigation of the hydrogen exchange reaction between cellulose and water and its possible relation to the crystallinity and other aspects of the fine structure and the reactivity of the cellulose. Since present concepts of molecular order in cellulose have been described in many texts, only those aspects which are of interest to the present work will be briefly reviewed here.