STUDIES ON REACTIONS RELATING TO CARBOHYDRATES AND POLYSACCHARIDES: XXXIX. STRUCTURE OF THE CELLULOSE SYNTHESIZED BY THE ACTION OF ACETOBACTER XYLINUS ON GLUCOSE

Abstract

A description is given of the properties of the cellulose obtained from glucose by the action of Acetobacter xylinus.Acetylation of the product gives a yield of 98.8% of a triacetate identical with cellulose triacetate, and the cellulose regenerated from the acetate is identical with the starting material. The triacetate, when spun dry from solution in chloroform, gives a silk-like fibre which on de-acetylation yields a fibre showing the same X-ray diffraction pattern as natural cellulose. Acetolysis of the acetate yields cellobiose octacetate.Treatment of the triacetate with methyl alcohol containing HCl gives a yield of 94.1% of α- and β-methylglucosides, while on direct hydrolysis of the cellulose with a solution of zinc chloride in hydrochloric acid, a practically quantitative yield (99.5%) of glucose is obtained.Simultaneous de-acetylation and methylation of a partially saponified acetate soluble in acetone gave trimethyl cellulose (yield, 84.6%). The latter, on hydrolysis with methyl alcohol containing HCl, yielded 2:3:6-trimethyl methylglucoside (yield, 92.3%) which, in turn, was converted into crystalline 2:3:6-trimethyl glucose (yield, 83.5%). The last two compounds were found to be identical in every way with the same products prepared from ordinary cotton cellulose. It follows from this that the cellulose obtained by direct bacterial synthesis from glucose is identical with natural cellulose.