Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of several polysaccharides that are more complex than a sugar and less complex than cellulose, found in plant cell walls and produced commercially from corn grain hulls.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A form of cellulose which is easily hydrolyzed by dilute acids and readily attacked by certain enzyms.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun organic chemistry a mixture of several plant polysaccharides, of smaller molecular weight than cellulose, that are soluble in dilute alkali; they are involved in the manufacture of paper, and are used in the production of furfural and ethanol

Etymologies

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Examples

  • This is obviously due to the conservation of 'hemicellulose' products, which are hydrolysed and dissolved in the treatments for 'crude fibre' estimation.

    Researches on Cellulose 1895-1900 C. F. Cross

  • The leaves and stems, with their tough cell walls made of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, are more of a nuisance than anything else.

    Fuel from germs ewillett 2010

  • The leaves and stems, with their tough cell walls made of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, are more of a nuisance than anything else.

    Fuel from germs ewillett 2010

  • The researchers modified the E. coli genome, inserting genetic code for the production of an enzyme called hemicellulase, which can break down hemicellulose into smaller sugar molecules which E. coli can then turn into fatty acids.

    Fuel from germs ewillett 2010

  • The researchers modified the E. coli genome, inserting genetic code for the production of an enzyme called hemicellulase, which can break down hemicellulose into smaller sugar molecules which E. coli can then turn into fatty acids.

    Fuel from germs ewillett 2010

  • Wood has evolved to keep its sugars to itself, covering them with lignin — a substance that gives cell walls rigidity — and then locking them in a matrix of cellulose and hemicellulose protected by complex chemical bonds.

    Gut Reactions 2008

  • The energy is bound up in the cellulose (especially the hemicellulose), which has to be freed from the inert lignin and then converted into sugars (a process called, naturally enough, saccharification), which can then be fermented into ethanol.

    Spinning straw into liquid gold ewillett 2008

  • This reduces the sizes of solid particles, changes the consistency from a damp fiber to sludge, and most importantly breaks down the walls of the plant cells, allowing hemicellulose to escape into the syrupy mixture.

    Spinning straw into liquid gold ewillett 2008

  • Plants are made mostly of tough stuff called cellulose and hemicellulose.

    Are We Getting Closer to 'Clean' Ethanol? 2010

  • Wood has evolved to keep its sugars to itself, covering them with lignin — a substance that gives cell walls rigidity — and then locking them in a matrix of cellulose and hemicellulose protected by complex chemical bonds.

    Gut Reactions 2008

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