Viscose OH
O O
HO
O
HO
HO
O HO
OH
OH
O O
HO
O
HO
HO
O HO
OH
OH
O O
HO
O
HO
HO
O HO
OH
OH
O O
HO
O
HO
Key O = Oxygen atoms
HO
O HO
OH
O
N = Nitrogen atoms Unlabelled corners and ends = Carbon atoms H = Hydrogen atoms (Further hydrogens are attached to all carbons, so as to make all carbons have four bonds)
This diagram shows four disaccharide units (eight glucose molecules in all, one in each ring), bonded together into a short chain. The same kind of chain, but made from many thousands of glucose molecules, makes up the long‑chain structure of viscose. This long-chain behaviour makes it possible to draw long fibres from solutions of the chains in a solvent, just like a spider or a moth spinning silk fibres.