A complex carbohydrate and the most abundant organic compound on Earth, forming the primary structural component of plant cell walls. It consists of long chains of glucose molecules that provide strength and rigidity to plant structures.
From Latin 'cellula' meaning 'little cell' and the suffix '-ose' indicating a sugar. The term was coined in 1838 by French chemist Anselme Payen, who first isolated this substance from plant cell walls and recognized its fundamental role in plant structure.
Cellulose is literally everywhere around you right now! That paper you're reading, the cotton in your clothes, the wood in your furniture - it's all cellulose, making it the most successful biological material ever invented, yet humans can't even digest it.
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