The morphological units in cotton linters

Abstract

Abstract Cotton linters were hydrolyzed with 1 N HCI at 55°C. for 0.5–168 hours and beaten with ultra‐sound. Samples were investigated in the electron microscope and the microfibrillar fragments measured. The distribution curve shows a general maximum at about 500–600 Å, and several peaks standing out in a distance of about 100 Å. From this it is concluded that the elementary unit is 100 Å long, but there are also bigger units of 600 Å length, which are more resistant towards the hydrolytic attack. There is also a longer morphological unit of about 2500 Å length, which is in correspondence with earlier findings, but with the higher resolution of our electron microscope it could be shown that it consists of a bundle of microfibrillar fragments.