Yuki MARUBASHI, Tatsuro HIGASHI¹, Shoichiro HIRAKAWA¹, Seiji TANI¹, Tomoki ERATA, Mitsuo TAKAI and Jun KAWAMATA¹

Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Kita 13, Nishi 8, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-8628, Japan
¹Faculty of Science, Yamaguchi University, 1677-1 Yoshida, Yamaguchi 753-8512, Japan

(Received September 30, 2004; Accepted October 27, 2004)

The molecular chain orientation of mercerized cellulose II was examined by optical second harmonic generation (SHG) measurements. The SHG intensities of several kinds of mercerized cellulose II were found to be much larger than those expected for a structural model with an antiparallel molecular chain orientation as proposed by X-ray studies. This result suggests that the orientation of mercerized cellulose II is parallel as suggested by molecular dynamics simulation.

Key words: cellulose, mercerized cellulose II, molecular chain orientation, second-harmonic generation, SHG, biomacromolecule