As the most important skeletal component in plants, the polysaccharide cellulose is an almost inexhaustible polymeric raw material with fascinating structure and properties. Formed by the repeated connection of D-glucose building blocks, the highly functionalized, linear stiff-chain homopolymer is characterized by its hydrophilicity, chirality, biodegradability, broad chemical modifying capacity, and its formation of versatile semicrystalline fiber morphologies. In view of the considerable increase in interdisciplinary cellulose research and product development over the past decade worldwide, this paper assembles the current knowledge in the structure and chemistry of cellulose, and in the development of innovative cellulose esters and ethers for coatings, films, membranes, building materials, drilling techniques, pharmaceuticals, and foodstuffs. New frontiers, including environmentally friendly cellulose fiber technologies, bacterial cellulose biomaterials, and in-vitro syntheses of cellulose are highlighted together with future aims, strategies, and perspectives of cellulose research and its applications.

Cellulose: Fascinating Biopolymer and Sustainable Raw Material

Aspergillus fumigatus is one of the most ubiquitous of the airborne saprophytic fungi. Humans and animals constantly inhale numerous conidia of this fungus. The conidia are normally eliminated in the immunocompetent host by innate immune mechanisms, and aspergilloma and allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis, uncommon clinical syndromes, are the only infections observed in such hosts. Thus, A. fumigatus was considered for years to be a weak pathogen. With increases in the number of immunosuppressed patients, however, there has been a dramatic increase in severe and usually fatal invasive aspergillosis, now the most common mold infection worldwide. In this review, the focus is on the biology of A. fumigatus and the diseases it causes. Included are discussions of (i) genomic and molecular characterization of the organism, (ii) clinical and laboratory methods available for the diagnosis of aspergillosis in immunocompetent and immunocompromised hosts, (iii) identification of host and fungal factors that play a role in the establishment of the fungus in vivo, and (iv) problems associated with antifungal therapy.

Aspergillus fumigatus and Aspergillosis

SUMMARY Aspergillus fumigatus is one of the most ubiquitous of the airborne saprophytic fungi. Humans and animals constantly inhale numerous conidia of this fungus. The conidia are normally eliminated in the immunocompetent host by innate immune mechanisms, and aspergilloma and allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis, uncommon clinical syndromes, are the only infections observed in such hosts. Thus, A. fumigatus was considered for years to be a weak pathogen. With increases in the number of immunosuppressed patients, however, there has been a dramatic increase in severe and usually fatal invasive aspergillosis, now the most common mold infection worldwide. In this review, the focus is on the biology of A. fumigatus and the diseases it causes. Included are discussions of (i) genomic and molecular characterization of the organism, (ii) clinical and laboratory methods available for the diagnosis of aspergillosis in immunocompetent and immunocompromised hosts, (iii) identification of host and fungal factors that play a role in the establishment of the fungus in vivo, and (iv) problems associated with antifungal therapy.

Aspergillus fumigatus and aspergillosis.

Recent developments in polysaccharide-based materials used as adsorbents in wastewater treatment

Lignocellulosic biomass pyrolysis mechanism: A state-of-the-art review

γ-Cyclodextrin with 3-O-butyryl and 2,6-di-O-pentyl residues is a very versatile chiral stationary phase for enantiomer separation. Most of the common and many uncommon amino acids can be separated as well as α- and β-hydroxy acids, chiral alcohols, diols, triols, ketones, bicyclic, and tricyclic acetals, amines, alkyl halides, lactones, and functionalized cyclopropane derivatives.

Cyclodextrins as chiral stationary phases in capillary gas chromatography. Part V: Octakis(3‐O‐butyryl‐2,6‐di‐O‐pentyl)‐γ‐cyclodextrin

Starch and cellulose are the most abundant and important representatives of renewable biomass. Since the mid-19th century their properties have been changed by chemical modification for commerical ...

Chemical structure analysis of starch and cellulose derivatives.

Yield and structural composition of pomelo peel pectins extracted under acidic and alkaline conditions

The effect of structurally different bacterial homoexopolysaccharides on gluten-free bread quality and their properties to act as hydrocolloids was investigated. Furthermore, exopolysaccharides (EPS) were analyzed structurally by asymmetrical flow field flow fractionation and methylation analysis. Breads were made of buckwheat and rice flour with EPS of Lactobacillus (L.) curvatus TMW 1.624, L. reuteri TMW 1.106, L. animalis TMW 1.971, and L. sanfranciscensis TMW 1.392 or hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC) at 1 % w/w flour base. Water-holding capacity, specific volume, crumb analysis, baking loss, moisture content, and crumb hardness were determined. Only HPMC and the glucan of L. curvatus TMW 1.624 retained water, and all supplements increased the specific volume. Furthermore, crumb hardness was decreased by additives to different extents. The moisture content, baking loss, and crumb firmness were improved most by dextran of L. curvatus TMW 1.624. Structure analysis of EPS revealed that L. animalis TMW 1.971 produces a fructan and a glucan and that the dextran of L. curvatus TMW 1.624 had highest molecular weight of analyzed EPS, ranging from 118 to 242 MDa. A methylation analysis demonstrated differences in branching. Dextran of L. reuteri TMW 1.106 is branched in position 4 (18–19 %), whereas dextran of L. curvatus TMW 1.624 is branched in position 3 (8–9 %). Overall, this study gives insight into structure function relations of different EPS. A structure function relation is suggested in which high weight average molar mass (Mw) and branching at position 3 of the glucose monomer foster a compact conformation of the molecule, which enables an increased water-binding capacity and promotes superior (structural) effects in gluten-free breads. The dextran of L. curvatus TMW 1.624 was the most promising candidate for applications in gluten-free bread quality improvements as it retains its size distribution and root mean square even with increasing Mw and forms an increasingly compact molecule.

Petra Mischnick

Papers

Cyclodextrins as chiral stationary phases in capillary gas chromatography. Part V: Octakis(3‐O‐butyryl‐2,6‐di‐O‐pentyl)‐γ‐cyclodextrin

Chemical structure analysis of starch and cellulose derivatives.

Yield and structural composition of pomelo peel pectins extracted under acidic and alkaline conditions

Effect of structurally different microbial homoexopolysaccharides on the quality of gluten-free bread

Characterisation of the substituent distribution in hydroxypropylated potato amylopectin starch.