Hemicelluloses acidic

Acid hydrolysis of cellulosic materials that include some hemicellulose, produces D-xylose, D-glucose, and cellobiose, as well as 11, 2-furalde-hyde (5), levulinic acid, formic acid, and acetic acid. In order to lessen the contamination due to hemicellulose, acid hydrolysis is generally performed in two steps dilute sulfuric acid (1%) at 80-120° followed by 5-20% sulfuric acid at 180°. The initial stage removes most of the pentogly-cans (pentosans). 

Hemicellulose Acid>- Pentosans Acid > Furfural Reduce > Furfuryl alcohol... 

Dietary fibre consists of all components of plant cell walls not digested by human alimentary enzymes. Chemically, fibre is a mixture of cellulose, lignin, heteropoly-saccharides (hemicelluloses), acidic polysaccharides and pectin. In the colon, bacteria hydrolyse up to 15% of cellulose and 70-95% of other polysaccharides giving rise to volatile gases and low molecular weight fatty acids (acetic, butyric etc.) which have weak laxative activity. In addition the cellulosic and non-cellulosic polysaccharides are hydrophilic and absorb large amounts of fluid from the gut lumen, increasing in bulk as they do so. This is exactly the... 

Some hemicelluloses are partiaUy extractable with water, but they are usuaUy extracted with alkaline solutions foUowing removal of Upids and lignin. DeUgnifted plant material is termed, holoceUulose. Neutralization of the alkaline extract effects precipitation of the more linear and less acidic hemicelluloses, termed the hemiceUulose A [63100-39-0] fraction. The more acidic and more branched material, termed hemiceUulose B [63100-40-3], is precipitated with ethanol (70%). HemiceUulose B types type are usuaUy water-soluble after extraction. 

The two intermediates of commercial furan resins are furfural and furfuryl alcohol. Furfural occurs in the free state in many plants but is obtained commercially by degradation of hemicellulose constituents present in these plants. There are a number of cheap sources of furfural, and theoretical yields of over 20% (on a dry basis) may be obtained from both com cobs and oat husks. In practice yields of slightly more than half these theoretical figures may be obtained. In the USA furfural is produced in large quantities by digestion of com cobs with steam and sulphuric acid. The furfural is removed by steam distillation. 

Recently, the alkah-soluble hemicelluloses of hardwood dissolving pulps have been investigated [28]. Their composition and molecular properties depended on the pulp origin and steeping conditions. The MGX of the j8-fraction from press lye had a low uronic acid content (ratio of MeGlcA to Xyl is about 1 20). The molecular weight of the hemicellulose fractions varied between 5000 and lOOOOg/mol. 

From recent literature it is known that the disintegration of lignified cell walls can be achieved by steam explosion treatments resulting in solubilization of partially depolymerized hemicelluloses [91,92]. The application of this method on wheat bran yielded feruloylated GAX with different feruUc acid content [93]. Partly depolymerized water-soluble, acetylated AGX was obtained from spruce wood by employing microwave treatment [94]. 

Wood chips can also be utilized as such to produce bioethanol. The cellulose and hemicellulose material is hydrolyzed in the presence of acids (H2SO4, HCl, or HCOOH) or enzymes to yield glucose and other monosaccharides [16]. Lignin is separated by filtration as a solid residue and the monosaccharides are fermented to ethanol, which, in turn, is separated from water and catalyst by distillation. Ethanol can be used not only as energy source but also as a platform component to make various chemicals, such as ethene and polyethene. Today green acetaldehyde and acetic acid from wood-derived bioethanol is manufactured by SEKAB Ab, at the Ornskoldsvik Biorefinery of the Future industrial park. 

Figure 8.2 Acid-catalyzed hydrolysis of a hemicellulose (arabinogalactane).

Abatzoglou, N. and Chornet, E. (1998) Acid hydrolysis of hemicellulose and cellulose. Theory and Applications, in Polysaccharides, Marcel Dekkes, New York, pp. 1007-1045. 

Maloney, M.T., Chapman, T.W., and Baker, A.J. (1986) An engineering analysis of the production of xylose by dilute acid hydrolysis of hardwood hemicellulose. Biotechnol Progr., 2, 193. 

NORMAND F L, ORY R L, MOD R R (1987) Binding of bile acids and trace minerals by soluble hemicelluloses of rice The ability of rice fiber components to bind bile acids may play a role in lowering serum cholesterol. Food Technology, 41(2) 86-90. 

In the absence of suitable cell wall mutants, DCB-adapted tomato cells provide an opportunity to characterise the pectin network of the plant cell wall. It should be noted that synthesis and secretion of hemicellulose is not inhibited but, in the absence of a cellulose framework for it to stick to, most of the xyloglucan secreted remains in soluble form in the cells culture medium (9, 10) while other non-cellulosic polysaccharides and other uronic-acid-rich polymers predominate in the wall. 

The primary walls of growing plant cells are composed of 90% carbohydrate and 10% protein (51). Carbohydrate in the primary wall is present predominantly as cellulose, hemicellulose, and pectin. The pectic polysaccharides, are defined as a group of cell wall polymers containing a-l,4-linked D-galactosyluronic acid residues (62,76). Pectic polysaccharides are a major component of the primary cell waU of dicots (22-35%), arc abundant in gymnosperms and non-graminaceous monocots, and are present in reduced amounts (-10%) in the primary walls of the graminaceae (27,62). 

The galacturonic acids of a plant cell wall mainly belong to smooth chains of homopolygalacturonic acid (PGA) and to hairy regions of rhamnogalacturonan I (RGI). In green plants, other uronic acids can be found in hemicelluloses. Provided they are not methylesterified, all these carboxylic acids deprotonate at the more or less acidic pH of wall water. The electrostatic charges of these polyanions are then compensated by cations ultimately derived from the environment. 

The biochemical nature of these high and low affinity sites can be deduced from the literature. The high affinity sites (about 30% of all exchange sites, Fig. 5) have EPR spectra characteristic of homopolygalacturonic acid polymers [6]. The walls also comprise about 40% of RGI and hemicellulosic uronates [7, 8]. The remaining 30% thus represent low affinity homopolygalacturonic acids. 

The AIS of fresh and canned carrots were sequentially fractionated into water-soluble pectin (WSP), oxalate-soluble pectin (OXSP), acid-soluble pectin (HSP), alkah-soluble pectin (OHSP), hemicellulose and cellulose. The distribution of uronic acid among various fractions is presented in Table 1. WSP of fresh carrots accounted for 19.0% of the total pectin, while OXSP constituted 29.6%. HSP represented the lowest (12.0%) pectin fraction, whereas OHSP was the highest (35.6%) In the hemicellulose and cellulose fractions significant amounts of uronic acid were found. Heat treatments during canning altered the proportion... 

Rha, Ara and Gal are the neutral sugar components from all the fractions. Xyl is not present in Fla and is significantly present in the hemicellulose fractions, indicating that this monosaccharide is component of hemicellulosic polymers. Chemical composition of the water fractions were determined (Table V). High protein contents and the presence of O-acetyl-groups were observed in four aqueous fractions. Neutral sugar and uronic acid composition points to inclusion of these polymers in the class of pectic polysaccharides. 

Figure 2. Sugar composition of polyuronides (I) and hemicelluloses (II) extracted from strawberry tissues at different stages of ripeness. Galacturonic acid, [Q Rhamnose, S Arabinose, Galactose, 0 Glucose, Cl Xylose, ED.

Modifications of the cell wall composition of released cells occured during the maceration (Fig. 5). In pectic polysaccharide, galactose increased whereas galacturonic acid and arabinose decreased. Cellulose and hemicellulose compositions were not modified. 

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