Fig. 1

A schematic of the idealized hemicellulose (X)–lignocellulose (LC) substrate considered in this work. Although xylan is hypothesized to be comprised of fast and a slow-reacting fractions, we do not distinguish these in this figure. The species Ac and Ar, which represent the acetyl and arabinose groups, are initially bound to the xylan chain but are released through acid hydrolysis. The ash (MO) is not shown in this figure but is considered to be physically embedded in the LC portion of the matrix