Single crystals of V amylose complexed with glycerol.

Lamellar single crystals of amylose V glycerol were grown at 100 degrees C by evaporating water from solutions of amylose in aqueous glycerol. The crystals which were square, with lateral dimensions of several micrometers, gave sharp electron diffraction patterns presenting an orthorhombic symmetry with a probable space group P2(1)2(1)2(1) and unit cell parameters: a = 1.93 +/- 0.01 nm, b = 1.86 +/- 0.01 nm and c (fiber axis) = 0.83 +/- 0.03 nm. The amylose Vglycerol crystal structure which is isomorphous to that of VDMSO consists of an antiparallel pair of left-handed six-fold amylose helices centered on the two-fold screw axes of the cell and probably separated by glycerol molecules. This packing mode is confirmed by de-solvation experiments where the Vglycerol amylose crystals, annealed in ethanol, could be converted into VH amylose without losing their external appearance. The Vglycerol amylose crystals could be seeded by cellulose microfibrils to yield a shish-kebab structure where the amylose crystalline lamellae grew perpendicular to the microfibril directions.