Polysaccharide of wood

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. 

Table 28.1 compares the chemical composition of extractive-free hardwoods and softwoods. As cellulose and the hemicelluloses are both polysaccharides, it is obvious that the polysaccharide of wood is by far the dominant component, making up approximately 70 percent of both hardwoods and softwoods. 

The polysaccharides of wood (holocellulose) may be hydrolyzed by two general methods (1) by strong acids, such as 70-72 percent sulfuric acid or 40-45 percent hydrochloric acid or (2) by dilute acids, such as 0.5-2.0 percent sulfuric acid. The hydrolysis by strong acids is constant, proceeds as a first-order reaction, and is independent of the degree of polymerization. The reaction may be represented as follows ... 

The arabino-(4-0-methylglucurono)xylans present in the wood of gymnosperms received attention much later than the 0-acetyl-(4-0-methylglucurono)xylans in the wood of angiosperms. One reason for this was probably that, in softwoods, the xylan is not the preponderant hemi-cellulose (as it is in the hardwoods). However, a factor presumably more decisive was the fact that, of all polysaccharides of wood, the softwood xylans are the most difficult to isolate. Anderson and coworkers, in a pioneering study, failed to separate the D-xylose- and D-mannose-yielding portions of wood of white pine, but concluded that a mono-O-methyluronic... 

Starch is the most common extraneous polysaccharide of wood. It is found in angiosperms in the living, ray and longitudinal, parenchymatous cells of sap-wood. It almost never occurs in heartwood. There has been some uncertainty... 

Table 7.1 compares the chemical composition of extractive-free hardwoods and softwoods. As cellulose and the hemicelluloses are both polysaccharides, it is obvious that the polysaccharide of wood is by far the dominant component, making up approximately 70 percent of both hardwoods and softwoods. Additional polysaccharides may occur as extraneous components of wood, which are not part of the cell wall for example, the heartwood of species of larch can contain up to 25 percent (dry weight) of arabinogalactan, a water-soluble polysaccharide that occurs only in trace quantities in other wood species. ... 

Hemicellulose [9034-32-6] is the least utilized component of the biomass triad comprising cellulose (qv), lignin (qv), and hemiceUulose. The term was origiaated by Schulze (1) and is used here to distinguish the nonceUulosic polysaccharides of plant cell walls from those that are not part of the wall stmcture. Confusion arises because other hemicellulose definitions based on solvent extraction are often used in the Hterature (2—4). The term polyose is used in Europe to describe these nonceUulosic polysaccharides from wood, whereas hemicellulose is used to describe the alkaline extracts from commercial pulps (4). The quantity of hemicellulose in different sources varies considerably as shown in Table 1. 

The significance of phenoxy anions is well recognized in the isolation of kraft and other water-insoluble technical lignins by acid precipitation. The ioniza tion of phenoHc hydroxyl groups coupled with the reduction of molecular size renders native lignin soluble in the aqueous pulping solution, thus enabling its separation from the polysaccharide components of wood. 

Acetylated polysaccharides form part of the structure of wood, the acetyl radical constituting some 2-5Vo by weight of the dry wood. Hydrolysis to free acetic acid occurs in the presence of moisture at a rate varying from one species to another a wood of lower acetyl content can liberate acetic acid much faster under given conditions than another wood of higher content Small quantities of formic, propionic and butyric acids are also formed but their effects can be neglected in comparison with those of acetic acid. There is a broad, but only a broad, correlation between the corrosivity of a wood and its acidity. The chemistry of acetyl linkage in wood and of its hydrolysis has been examined in some detail. ... 

AG type II is most abundant in the heartwood of the genus Larix and occurs as minor, water-soluble components in softwoods. Certain tree parts of western larch (I. occidentalis) were reported to contain up to 35% AG [378]. The polysaccharide is located in the lumen of the tracheids and ray cells. Consequently, it is not a cell-wall component and, by definition, not a true hemicellulose. However, it is commonly classified as such in the field of wood and pulping research. This motivated us to include the larch AG in the review. 

Acid hydrolysis of the polysaccharide portion of wood will release lignin but also causes major condensation reactions in the product(2l). These reactions can be minimized by using 41 wt. percent hydrochloric acid in place of other mineral acids but some condensation reactions still occur(22). This is not an effective method by which to obtain unaltered lignin. On the other hand, lignin can be solvent extracted from wood at temperature of 175°C using solvent mixtures such as 50/50 by volume water/1,4-dioxacyclohexane(23) Changes in lignin under these conditions appear to be minor. 

Solid wood material is built up of two major organic polymers (macro molecules) (1) polysaccharides and (2) polyphenylpropane [61,62], The polysaccharides consist of two groups - cellulose and hemicellulose, and make up around 65-75 % of the wood on dry basis. The polyphenylpropanes are more commonly termed lignins and constitute around 18-35 % of the wood on dry basis. In Table 9 we can see that wood fuels consist of extractives, minerals, and nitrogen as well. The chemical composition of wood of Sweden s most commonly wood species [63], the spruce, the pine and the birch are different, see Table 9. 

The FP cellulose per unit (ml) volume and enzyme yield per unit (g) cellulose or substrate obtained on wheat straw, wood, and CTMP in SSF were higher than those obtained in LSF on wheat straw and wood (Tables I, II, and III). And wheat straw proved to be a better substrate than wood for cellulose production in SSF. This could be attributed to the polysaccharides (cellulose and hemicelluloses) of wheat straw being more readily available for the organism s growth and cellulose synthesis than those of wood. The hemicelluloses and cellulose were presumably not as available in wood, because of its high lignin content and high cellulose crystallinity, as in wheat straw. 

---