title: X-ray coherent diffraction imaging of cellulose fibrils in situ.
abstract: Cellulose is the most abundant renewable source of organic molecules on earth[1]. As fossil fuel reserves become depleted, the use of cellulose as a feed stock for fuels and chemicals is being aggressively explored. Cellulose is a linear polymer of glucose that packs tightly into crystalline fibrils that make up a substantial proportion of plant cell walls. Extraction of the cellulose chains from these fibrils in a chemically benign process has proven to be a substantial challenge [2]. Monitoring the deconstruction of the fibrils in response to physical and chemical treatments would expedite the development of efficient processing methods. As a step towards achieving that goal, we here describe Bragg-coherent diffraction imaging (CDI) as an approach to producing images of cellulose fibrils in situ within vascular bundles from maize.
authors.affiliation: Argonne National Laboratory. jlal@anl.gov
authors.forename: Jyotsana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lal
authors.forename: Ross
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Harder
authors.forename: Lee
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Makowski
mesh_terms: D002482:Cellulose / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D012031:Refractometry / Q000379:methods*; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction / Q000379:methods*; D003313:Zea mays / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*
chemical_list: D002482:Cellulose