Morphology and Structure of Crystalline Polysaccharides: Some Recent Studies

Summary: In this paper, we review recent studies on the morphology and molecular structure of some polysaccharide crystals from amylose, cellulose, and mannan. The data were recorded using combinations of imaging, diffraction, and spectroscopic techniques: scanning and transmission electron microscopy, electron, neutron, and X-ray diffraction, as well as ¹³C solid-state NMR spectroscopy. Differences were generally found between native crystals, whose features result from in vivo biogenesis and the recrystallized products prepared in vitro.