Petridis Loukas, Pingali Sai Venkatesh, Urban Volker, Heller William T, O'Neill Hugh M, Foston Marcus, Ragauskas Arthur, Smith Jeremy C
UT/ORNL Center for Molecular Biophysics, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.
Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2011 Jun;83(6 Pt 1):061911. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.83.061911. Epub 2011 Jun 15.
Lignin, a major polymeric component of plant cell walls, forms aggregates in vivo and poses a barrier to cellulosic ethanol production. Here, neutron scattering experiments and molecular dynamics simulations reveal that lignin aggregates are characterized by a surface fractal dimension that is invariant under change of scale from ~1-1000 Å. The simulations also reveal extensive water penetration of the aggregates and heterogeneous chain dynamics corresponding to a rigid core with a fluid surface.
