Study on crystal structures of enzyme-hydrolyzed cellulosic materials by X-ray diffraction

Different cellulosic materials were treated with different extraceller microbial enzymes. Changes in structure and properties of the cellulose caused by enzymatic treatment depend on the composition, the type of enzyme and the type of cellulosic materials. Both endoglucanase and crude cellulase have pronounced effects on the structure of cellulose. The variation of crystal structure was found to attack preferentially the (0 0 2) crystal planes for cellulose I during enzymatic hydrolysis.