| Domain | Definition | ||
| Energy | Hemicellulose consists of short, highly branched chains of sugars. In contrast to cellulose, which is a polymer of only glucose, a hemicellulose is a polymer of five different sugars. It contains five-carbon sugars (usually D-xylose and L-arabinose) and six-carbon sugars (D-galactose, D-glucose, and D-mannose) and uronic acid. The sugars are highly substituted with acetic acid. The branched nature of hemicellulose renders it amorphous and relatively easy to hydrolyze to its constituent sugars compared to cellulose. When hydrolyzed, the hemicellulose from hardwoods releases products high in xylose (a five-carbon sugar). The hemicellulose contained in softwoods, by contrast, yields more six-carbon sugars. (references) | ||
| Geology | A large polysaccharide which helps give structure to plant cells. Along with pectin, it forms an amorphous matrix in which cellulose fibrils from the plant cell walls are embedded. It has the chemical formula of C | ||
| Health | A general term to describe those polysaccharides other than cellulose which are constituents of vegetable cell walls. (references) | ||
| Wikipedic | A hemicellulose can be any of several heteropolymers (matrix polysaccharides) present in almost all cell walls along with cellulose. (references) | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | Top | ||
Topics by Level of Interest: HEMICELLULOSE | ||||
| Topics sorted by level of Interest | Level (1=low, 600=high) | Topics sorted Alphabetically | Level (1=low, 600=high) | |
| Hemicellulose | 4 | Hemicellulose | 4 | |
Source: the editor, created by/for EVE to gauge likely levels of human interest in linguistically triggered topics (compiled across various sources, such as Wikipedia and specialty expression glosses). | ||||
