Chemistry of the hemicelluloses

No complete picture of biological materials can be given without reference to their original condition in their natural environment. Brief consideration will, therefore, be given to the biosynthesis of the hemicelluloses and to their relationship, in the plant, to cellulose and lignin. Since much of our present knowledge of the chemistry of the hemicelluloses is based upon examination of materials isolated by alkaline extraction from plant tissues which, in many cases, have been previously treated to remove lig-... 

The other noticeable product of this era was a steady stream of publications, mainly to the Journal of the Chemical Society, but also to the Biochemical Journal, to Chemistry and Industry, and later, to Carbohydrate Research. The atmosphere of this period is conveyed in several review lectures given by Hirst for example, the fourteenth Pedler lecture to the Chemical Society (1955) on Some Problems in the Chemistry of the Hemicelluloses, the Presidential Addresses to the Chemical Society (1957 and 1958) on Some Aspects ofthe Chemistry of the Fructosans and Polysaccharides of the Marine Algae, respectively, on Plant Gums, at the IVth International Congress of Biochemistry, Vienna (1958), and the Bakerian Lecture to the Royal Society (1959) on Molecular Structure in the Polysaccharide Group. These lectures were delivered with a quiet authority, and the published manuscripts show meticulous attention to detail. 

Aspinall, G. O., The Methyl Ethers of Hexuronic Acids, 9,131-148 Aspinall, G. O., The Methyl Ethers of D-Mannose, 8,217-230 Aspinall, G. O., Structural Chemistry of the Hemicelluloses, 14, 429-468... 

Aspinall, G.O. (1959). Structural Chemistry of the Hemicelluloses . Advances in Carbohydrate Chemistry, 14, 429-525. 

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