A
hemicellulose (also known as polyose) is any of several
heteropolymers (matrix polysaccharides), such as
arabinoxylans, present along with
cellulose in almost all plant
cell walls. While cellulose is crystalline, strong, and resistant to
hydrolysis, hemicellulose has a random, amorphous structure with little strength. It is easily hydrolyzed by dilute
acid or
base as well as myriad
hemicellulase enzymes.