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Microfibril diameter in celery collenchyma cellulose: X-ray scattering and NMR evidence

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Abstract

Cellulose isolated from celery collenchyma is typical of the low-crystallinity celluloses that can be isolated from primary cell-walls of higher plants, except that it is oriented with high uniformity. The diameter of the microfibrils of celery collenchyma cellulose was estimated by three separate approaches: 13C NMR measurement of the ratio of surface to interior chains; estimation of the dimensions of the crystalline lattice from wide angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) measurements using the Scherrer equation; and the observation that microfibrils of this form of cellulose have the unusual property of packing into an irregular array from which small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) shows features of both form and interference functions. The interference function contributing to the SAXS pattern implied a mean microfibril centre-to-centre distance of 3.6 nm, providing an upper limit for the diameter. However modelling of the scattering pattern from an irregular array of microfibrils showed that the observed scattering curve could be matched at a range of diameters down to 2.4 nm, with the intervening space more or less sparsely occupied by hemicellulose chains. The lateral extent of the crystalline lattice normal to the 200 plane was estimated as a minimum of 2.4 nm by WAXS through the Scherrer equation, and a diameter of 2.6 nm was implied by the surface: volume ratio determined by 13C NMR. The WAXS and NMR measurements both depended on the assumption that the surface chains were positioned within an extension of the crystalline lattice. The reliability of this assumption is uncertain. If the surface chains deviated from the lattice, both the WAXS and the NMR data would imply larger microfibril diameters within the range consistent with the SAXS pattern. The evidence presented is therefore all consistent with microfibril diameters from about 2.4 to 3.6 nm, larger than has previously been suggested for primary-wall cellulose. Some degree of aggregation may have occurred during the isolation of the cellulose, but the larger microfibril diameters within the range proposed are a consequence of the novel interpretation of the experimental data from WAXS and NMR and are consistent with previously published data if these are similarly interpreted.

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Abbreviations

NMR:

Nuclear magnetic resonance

AFM:

Atomic force microscopy

SAXS:

Small-angle X-ray scattering

WAXS:

Wide-angle X-ray scattering

FTIR:

Fourier-transform infrared

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Acknowledgements

Parts of this work were conducted as part of a long-term proposal at the ESRF to TJW. We thank BBSRC (grant no. BBS/B/09643), EPSRC and SHEFC for financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Structural Biophysics Group, School of Optometry and Vision Sciences, Cardiff University, Redwood Building, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3NB, Wales, UK

    Craig J. Kennedy & Timothy J. Wess

  2. Department of Computing Science, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, UK

    Graeme J. Cameron

  3. Chemistry Department, Glasgow University, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, Scotland, UK

    Adriana Šturcová, Clemens Altaner & Michael C. Jarvis

  4. Chemistry Department, Durham University, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, England, UK

    David C. Apperley

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  1. Craig J. Kennedy
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  2. Graeme J. Cameron
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  3. Adriana Šturcová
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  4. David C. Apperley
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  5. Clemens Altaner
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  6. Timothy J. Wess
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  7. Michael C. Jarvis
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Correspondence to Michael C. Jarvis.

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Kennedy, C.J., Cameron, G.J., Šturcová, A. et al. Microfibril diameter in celery collenchyma cellulose: X-ray scattering and NMR evidence. Cellulose 14, 235–246 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-007-9116-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-007-9116-1

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