Alkaline degradation saccharinic acids from

Xyloisosaccharinic acid [2,4-dihydroxy-2-(hydroxymethyl)butanoic acid] is one of the major, alkaline-degradation products of wood xylan, in particular, that of birch. The disaccharide, 2-O-D-xylopyranosyl-L-arabinose, which was isolated as a hydrolysis product of corn-cob hemicellulose, is readily degraded at 100° in 15 mM Ca(OH)2 to acidic products, primarily saccharinic acids. Xylan oligosaccharides from corn-cob hemicellulose produced 2,4-dihydroxy-2-(hydroxymethyl)buta-noic acid when exposed to 0.02 M Ca(OH)2 at 25°. However, it was noted that the xylan, itself, was stable at 100° in Af NaOH. The major acidic component of the hemicellulose fraction of slash pine Pinus el-liotti) after acid hydrolysis was identified as 4-O-methyl-D-glucuronic... 

The 1-deoxyosone represents the most elusive of the three intermediates, but also the most important from the standpoint of food flavor and aroma production. A large number of methyl-containing furanones, pyrones and related compounds are found in food preparations that are consistent with having been formed from this intermediate. A synthesis of this material was reported some years ago by Isuzu, et al. (10), but the yields were very low and the product was not well characterized. The workers reported that the compound gave one of the two reported isomers of "saccharinic acid", the expected degradation product in alkaline solution, along with fragmentation products. This material will be addressed (vide infra) in a later section. 

Earlier investigators of the alkaline-degradation products of lactose found succinic acid, formic acid, and a crystalline lactone, later identified by Kiliani as a -D-isosaccharinic lactone. This lactone was obtained in about 20% yield from the action of lime-water on lactose also detected as products of this reaction were D-galactose, lactic acid, pyruvaldehyde, formaldehyde, and other saccharinic acids. The... 

---