Beech holocellulose

For the study of soluble polysaccharides, a treatment with diluted TFA is sufficient and the reaction time can be kept short (7). Soluble polysaccharides of wood are separated from holocellulose by extraction with alkali. Wise et al. (10) term the extract with 5% KOH polyoses (hemicelluloses) A. Polyoses A can be hydrolyzed completely with 2N TFA within 1 hr. The chromatograms of the hydrolysates of polyoses A from spruce and beech holocelluloses recorded with a sugar analyzer (Biotronik ZA 5100) are shown in Figure 1. 

Amylose and starch, both derived from potato, were commercial samples. Glucomannan and xylan were isolated from spruce and beech holocelluloses, respectively, and purified by the usual method (12). Pectin was isolated and purified from the midrib of Nicotiana taba-cum and kindly provided by Dr. Shigeru Eda at The Central Research Institute, Japan Tobacco Inc. ( ). 

Figure 6. Chromatograms of the hydrolysates of a-cellulose from beech-wood and holocellulose from sprucewood...

Table 7.7.2. Chemical constituents of the pyroly sate of holocellulose (A), a xylan fraction (B), and technical xylan (C) from beech wood [64], (The origin from lignin of certain compounds is also indicated in the table.)...

The phenomena which have been observed on extraction of wood with aqueous sodium hydroxide - also occur, albeit to a smaller extent, with holocelluloses the restriction to dissolution is, in this case, mostly due to the fiber structure itself. In a study of the extraction of a chlorine holocellulose from European beech with sodium hydroxide solutions of various concentrations, Corbett and Ewart found that 87% of the (4-0-methyl-glucurono) xylan could be removed under mild conditions, and another 10% by extraction with hot alkali, but that 1.3% remained associated with the cellulose. The same authors have also described an apparatus suitable for the alkaline extraction of wood or holocellulose in an atmosphere of nitrogen. 

A xylan extracted from the holocellulose present in the stalks of Nicotiana tabacum has been purified by ion-exchange chromatography. The results of methylation analysis, partial hydrolysis with acid, and enzymic hydrolysis indicated that the xylan is composed of a straight chain of approximately 100 /S-(l -> 4)-linked D-xylopyranosyl residues. Curie point-g.l.c. of the xylan yielded 2-furaldehyde, which is probably formed via 3-deoxy-D- /ycero-pent-2-ulose. Another major product was identified as 3-hydroxy-2-penteno-1,5-lactone (21) by high-resolution m.s. this lactone has also been prepared by pyrolysis of a hexuronic acid-containing xylan from beech. Since the tobacco-stalk xylan contains no acidic components, the lactone (21) must arise by... 

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