Suberin alkaline hydrolysis

Most of the linkages in cutin are intermonomeric ester bonds with, perhaps, a small number of peroxide bridges (Kolattukudy, 1980). Methods used to break the ester linkages of cutin are also applied to suberin analysis. Techniques which have been used include alkaline hydrolysis (Eglinton and Hunne-1968), transesterification with NaOCH3-... 

Another promising approach, in the sense that it avoids expensive fractionation procedures, is to promote the direct polymerization of dep-suberin mixtures under polycondensation or polytransesterification conditions, using dep-suberin mixtures issued from alkaline hydrolysis or methanolysis, respectively. Ongoing experiments prove that both types of systems are viable [85, 86], as shown by the FTIR spectmm of the product obtained from a polycondensation of a dep-suberin (Fig. 14.11), which clearly shows the feature of a polyester. This evidence was further corroborated by NMR spectroscopy and molecular weight measurements [85]. 

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