Wood, as the most abundant carbon dioxide storing bioresource, is currently driven beyond its traditional use through creative innovations and nanotechnology. For many properties the micro- and nanostructure plays a crucial role and one key challenge is control and detection of chemical and physical processes in the confined microstructure and nanopores of the wooden cell wall. In this study, correlative Raman and atomic force microscopy show high potential for tracking in situ molecular rearrangement of wood polymers during compression. More water molecules (interpreted as wider cellulose microfibril distances) and disentangling of hemicellulose chains are detected in the opened cell wall regions, whereas an increase of lignin is revealed in the compressed areas. These results support a new more “loose” cell wall model based on flexible lignin nanodomains and advance our knowledge of the molecular reorganization during deformation of wood for optimized processing and utilization.

中文翻译：

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木材变形导致纳米级分子重排

木材作为最丰富的二氧化碳储存生物资源，目前通过创造性创新和纳米技术超越了其传统用途。对于许多特性，微结构和纳米结构起着至关重要的作用，一个关键挑战是控制和检测木质细胞壁的受限微观结构和纳米孔中的化学和物理过程。在这项研究中，相关拉曼和原子力显微镜显示出在压缩过程中跟踪木材聚合物原位分子重排的高潜力。在开放的细胞壁区域检测到更多的水分子（解释为更宽的纤维素微纤维距离）和半纤维素链的解缠结，而在压缩区域中发现木质素的增加。