A study of the crystal structure of cellulose I

The possibility of formulating a structure of cellulose I without postulating a twofold screw axis in the structure has been investigated. Although structures of this type can be found for which the agreement between observed and calculated intensities is similar to that obtained by Meyer and Misch, none of them is completely satisfactory. In this analysis it is shown that the original interpretation of the x‐ray fiber diagram is uncertain because of the overlap of reflections and that a new approach is required that uses the envelope of diffraction spectra rather than the individual reflections.