Emulsins, carbohydrates

Emulsin (0-glycoaidase) almond nuts P-glucosides glucose and a non-carbohydrate 4I-4-5... 

When a solution of dextrose is allowed to stand for a month or more with emulsin, a glucoside splitting enzyme, gentiobiose, the carbohydrate mentioned above, is produced. It is probable that other disaccharides have been formed in this way, but their isolation from the large amount of the monosaccharides present prevented their satisfactory identification. 

A glycopeptide prepared from stem bromelain has been AT-[ Clacetylated. The peptide-carbohydrate linkage was cleaved with an enzyme preparation from almond emulsin to yield an intact oligosaccharide unit containing two moles of 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-glucose and a pentapeptide. 

The term catalysis was applied to the biological phenomena listed above and to several other reactions discovered in the next several years. The active component of bitter almonds was named emulsin in 1837. Other carbohydrate-splitting activities (ptyalin in saliva, amylase in malt) had already been described. Pepsin and trypsin, protein-digesting agents from the stomach and pancreas, were also discovered during this period. The activities of these materials were contrasted with the materials responsible for fermentation. Early theories of Willis and of Stahl to explain fermentation as a disruption caused by violent motion of... 

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