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Cellulose: Cellulose is very structured with stacked chains that result in stability and strength. The strength and stability comes from the straighter shape of cellulose caused by glucose monomers joined by glycogen bonds. The straight shape allows the molecules to pack closely.
Glycogen is analogous to starch, a glucose polymer in plants, and is sometimes referred to as animal starch, [16] having a similar structure to amylopectin but more extensively branched and compact than starch. Glycogen is a polymer of α(1→4) glycosidic bonds linked with α(1→6)-linked branches.
Starch, cellulose, and glycogen ("animal starch") are common glucose polymers (polysaccharides). Some of these polymers (starch or glycogen) serve as energy stores, while others (cellulose and chitin, which is made from a derivative of glucose) have structural roles. Oligosaccharides of glucose combined with other sugars serve as important ...
Cellulose from wood pulp has typical chain lengths between 300 and 1700 units; cotton and other plant fibers as well as bacterial cellulose have chain lengths ranging from 800 to 10,000 units. [6] Molecules with very small chain length resulting from the breakdown of cellulose are known as cellodextrins ; in contrast to long-chain cellulose ...
Glycogen (black granules) in spermatozoa of a flatworm; transmission electron microscopy, scale: 0.3 μm. Glycogen is a multibranched polysaccharide of glucose that serves as a form of energy storage in animals, [2] fungi, and bacteria. [3] It is the main storage form of glucose in the human body.
After cellulose, lignin is the second most abundant biopolymer and is one of the primary structural components of most plants. It contains subunits derived from p -coumaryl alcohol , coniferyl alcohol , and sinapyl alcohol , [ 15 ] and is unusual among biomolecules in that it is racemic .
The polymer bonds between the glucose units are β(1→4) links, the same as in cellulose. In its unmodified form, chitin is translucent, pliable, resilient and tough. In arthropods and other organisms however, it generally is a component of a complex matrix of materials.
Cellulose is an important structural component of plant's cell walls and glycogen is used as a form of energy storage in animals. Sugar can be characterized by having reducing or non-reducing ends. A reducing end of a carbohydrate is a carbon atom that can be in equilibrium with the open-chain aldehyde ( aldose ) or keto form ( ketose ).