Polysaccharides represent a large class of diverse macromolecules which naturally occur in nature. The basic building blocks are sugars joined together to make long chains, which may in some cases, be highly branched. Polysaccharides are predominantly found in plants, where they play two major roles. First, they act as an energy reserve in tissues such as seeds and tubers; almost always this role is played by starch. Second, a range of different polysaccharides such as cellulose and pectin form the basic skeletal structure of the plant. In this latter case, where mechanical strength is paramount, we can expect parameters such as chain stiffness to be much more important than in the former role, and this will clearly have implications for crystallization and crystallizability.
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