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

Occurrence, metabolism, metabolic role, and industrial uses of bacterial polyhydroxyalkanoates.

Department of Pharmaceutics, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Sector 67, S. A. S. Nagar,Mohali, Punjab-160 062, India, Institute of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Polytechnic University, Via Ranieri 67, IT-60100 Ancona, Italy,Green Biotechnology Research Group, The Special Division for Human Life Technology, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science andTechnology, 1-8-31 Midorigaoka, Ikeda, Osaka-563-8577, Japan, and Department of Medicinal Chemistry & Natural Products,The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, School of Pharmacy-Faculty of Medicine, Jerusalem 91120, IsraelReceived March 2, 2004

Chitosan chemistry and pharmaceutical perspectives.

Synthesis, structure and properties of polyhydroxyalkanoates: biological polyesters

Starch granules: structure and biosynthesis.

Studies of composition and crystallinity of bacterial poly(β-hydroxybutyrate-co-β-hydroxyvalerate)

Isodimorphism in bacterial poly(β-hydroxybutyrate-co-β-hydroxyvalerate)

Triple-Helical Structure of(1→3)-β-D-Glucan

Packing analysis of carbohydrates and polysaccharides. Part 14. Triple-helical crystalline structure of curdlan and paramylon hydrates

Pyrolysis products from bacterial polyesters, poly-β-hydroxybutyrate (PHB), and from a heteropolyester (β-hydroxyvalerate and β-hydroxybutyrate) were identified. Different physical forms of PHB wer...

Robert H. Marchessault

Papers

Studies of composition and crystallinity of bacterial poly(β-hydroxybutyrate-co-β-hydroxyvalerate)

Isodimorphism in bacterial poly(β-hydroxybutyrate-co-β-hydroxyvalerate)

Triple-Helical Structure of(1→3)-β-D-Glucan

Packing analysis of carbohydrates and polysaccharides. Part 14. Triple-helical crystalline structure of curdlan and paramylon hydrates

Pyrolysis of bacterial polyalkanoates