## 2 Materials and Methods
### Characterization of Cellulose and CMSC  
To understand the chemical composition of sago biomass and extracted cellulose, different parameters (Table 1) were determined using the following standard methods. To determine carbohydrate content of the sago cellulose, a quantitative saccharification with sulfuric acid was performed and the resulting monosaccharides were estimated by HPLC (Agilent, 1100 Series). The HPLC system was equipped with a LC-20 AT pump, SPD-M20A diode array detector and a Rheodyne injection valve (20 uL loop). The acidic samples were then neutralized using solid Ba(OH) [2] and then the pH was adjusted to pH 6 using saturated aqueous solution of Ba(OH)\({}_{2}\). The samples were then filtered through a 0.45 um filter and analyzed using internal standards (D(+)glucose, D(+)xylose, D(+)galactose, L(+)arabinose, and D(+)mannose). Bio-Rad Aminex HPX-87P column (300 \(\times\) 7.8 mm) (Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA, USA) at 85 \({}^{\circ}\)C was equipped to perform HPLC and distilled H\({}_{2}\)O was used as a solvent at flow rate 0.7 mL/min. The injection sample was 20 uL and refractive index detector (RID) at 25 \({}^{\circ}\)C was used to detect eluted monosaccharides. The infrared spectra of all samples were measured between 600 and 4000 cm\({}^{-1}\) using a Varian 640-IR FTIR spectrophotometer(Varian Medical Systems, Palo Alto, CA, USA) at ambient temperature. Thermal properties of the sago cellulose samples and CMSC were carried out using a thermogravimetric analyzer (Mettler Toledo STARe SYSTEM, Mettler-Toledo, Greifensee, Switzerland). Differential scanning calorimetry (Mettler Toledo DSC 1 STARe System, Mettler-Toledo, Greifensee, Switzerland) was used to analyze the phase transformations of sago cellulose and CMSC samples. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (SU8010) was used to study the shape, size and surface morphology of all the samples. The samples were platinum coated, and an accelerating voltage of 1 kV was used during imaging. The energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) was used for CMSC samples to detect any heavy metal impurities in the samples. For average molecular weight measurement, cellulose samples were dispersed in NaOH/urea solution and stored at \(-\)4 \({}^{\circ}\)C for 12 h. The viscosity of cellulose samples were measured at 25 \({}^{\circ}\)C using an Ubbelodhe viscometer. To estimate intrinsic viscosity (n), Huggins and Kraemer plots were equipped. Average molecular weight of the cellulose samples was determined using the relation between intrinsic viscosity (n) and viscosity-average molecular weight. The Equation (1) is as follows [31]. \[\eta=3.85\times 10^{-2}\ Mw\ 0.76\ \ (mL/g) \tag{1}\]  
To understand the fundamental crystallinity and chemical structure of the cellulose samples, X-ray diffraction patterns were acquired for each sample using a D8-Advance Bruker-AXS X-ray diffractometer (Bruker, Billerica, MA, USA) set at 1.540 A wavelength (CuK\(\alpha\) radiation), with a scan speed of 2\({}^{\circ}\) per second and a 20 range of 2\({}^{\circ}\) to 30\({}^{\circ}\). Sago cellulose and CMSC samples were analyzed using Bruker Avance 300 (7.05 Tesla magnet) and Bruker Avance III 900 US2 Ultra-High Field NMR magnet system (Bruker, Billerica, MA, USA) (14.1 Tesla magnet) with a 5 mm CPTCI \({}^{1}\)H-\({}^{13}\)C/\({}^{15}\)N/D. The \({}^{1}\)H NMR analysis was carried out at 600 MHz whereas \({}^{13}\)C spectra were recorded at 150 MHz. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c} \hline \hline
**Methods** & **Components Analysed** \\ \hline ASTM D 1102-84 & ash content \\ ASTM D 11 11-84 & hot water extractives \\ modified ASTM D 1 107-84 & ethanol/toluene extractives \\ TAPPI 223 cm-84 & Pentosan \\ ASTM D 1106-84 & Lignin content \\ TAPPI T-203 0s-74 & \(\alpha\)-cellulose \\ ISO 5351-11998 & The viscosity average degree of polymerization of \(\alpha\)-cellulose (DPv) \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Physicochemical analysis of cellulose.