Cellulose, Lignin, and Chitin

Cellulose, lignin, and chitin are the three most abundant biomasses on the earth. Cellulose and lignin are major components of plants and chitin is produced by insects and crustaceans. Although the first-order chemical structure is well known, the higher-order structure in vivo is complex and original conformation is ordinarily varied during the isolation process. In this chapter, the physiochemical properties of three basic biopolymers are described together with the cultural background.