Crystal structure and hydrogen bonding system in cellulose 1α, from synchrotron X-ray and neutron fiber diffraction

The crystal and molecular structure, together with the hydrogen-bonding system in cellulose I-alpha has been determined using atomic-resolution synchrotron and neutron diffraction data recorded from oriented fibrous samples prepared by aligning cellulose microcrystals from the cell wall of the freshwater alga Glaucocystis nostochinearum. The X-ray data were used to determine the C and O atom positions. The resulting structure is a one-chain triclinic unit cell with all glucosyl linkages and hydroxymethyl groups (tg) identical. However, adjacent sugar rings alternate in conformation giving the chain a cellobiosyl repeat. The chains organize in sheets packed in a parallel-up fashion. The positions of hydrogen atoms involved in hydrogen-bonding were determined from a Fourier-difference analysis using neutron diffraction data collected from hydrogenated and deuterated samples. The differences between the structure and hydrogen-bonding reported here for cellulose I-alpha and previously for cellulose I-beta provide potential explanations for the solid-state conversion of I-alpha --> I-beta and for the occurrence of two crystal phases in naturally occurring cellulose.