Question

Explain briefly why cellulose and starch have such different properties even though they are both polymers of hexose sugars

Answer 1

Although both are the polymers of glucose but the anomeric form is different in both sugar. Starch is polymer of alpha glucose and contains amylose and amylopectin. Amylose contains only alpha 1-4 glycosidic linkage while amylopectin contains additional alpha 1-6 glycosidic linkage that makes starch a branched polymer.

Cellulose is a polymer of beta-glucose linked by beta 1-4 glycosidic linkage and is linear. This difference in anomeric glucose subunit changes the type of bond formed between the two glucose residues changing the structural and functional properties of both the molecules.