File:Chitin glucose and cellulose.svg

English: 1.The transition between glucose and N-Acetylglucosamine 2. The polymerization of N-Acetylglucosamine to chitin 3.The polymerization of glucose to cellulose. Glucose changes depending on what form it takes, glucose is the basis of both chitin and cellulose and the only difference between the two types is what form glucose takes in each polymer. When it becomes chitin it changes to N Acetylglucosamine which then gets polymerized into chitin. Glucose remains the same when it becomes cellulose and only needs to get polymerized to become cellulose.

Cellulose
The structure of cellulose is chained together glucose molecules all joined through a dehydration reaction to form a chain. Cellulose form chains that when combined form up to microfibrils that then form macrofibrils that form cellulose fibers that then form up to form cell walls. The properties of cellulose depends on its chain length or degree of polymerization. The polymerization in bacteria is more pure than those found in plants and for that reason it has a higher water content and higher tensile strength along with it.

Chitin

Chitins structure is similar to celluloses structure except for at the second carbon where instead of another OH (hydroxyl) there is a NHCOCH3 the monomer is called N-Acetylglucosamine. Chitin starts with N-Acetylglucosamine molecules that when chained together become an chitin chains that form into chitin nanofibrils that are combined with the protein for that respective structure type that then form into mineralized protein plains, that are then twisted to form a more compact protein plane that then are stacked together to form multilayer cuticles. Pure chitin is a clear flexible substance and needs to be mixed with different proteins to form the structure found in other creatures. Chitin is combined with calcium carbonate when it is within crustacean shells and is combined with sclerotin to form insect cuticles. Chitin is used by several species most notably fungi and insects.