Xylan straw

AGX are also the dominant hemicelluloses in the cell walls of hgnified supporting tissues of grasses and cereals. They were isolated from sisal, corncobs and the straw from various wheat species [4]. A more recent study on corncob xylans [30] showed the presence of a hnear, water-insoluble polymer... 

Potential resources of xylans are by-products produced in forestry and the pulp and paper industries (forest chips, wood meal and shavings), where GX and AGX comprise 25-35% of the biomass as well as annual crops (straw, stalks, husk, hulls, bran, etc.), which consist of 25-50% AX, AGX, GAX, and CHX [4]. New results were reported for xylans isolated from flax fiber [16,68], abaca fiber [69], wheat straw [70,71], sugar beet pulp [21,72], sugarcane bagasse [73], rice straw [74], wheat bran [35,75], and jute bast fiber [18]. Recently, about 39% hemicelluloses were extracted from vetiver grasses [76]. 

Aqueous alkaline extraction of wood was employed by Poumarede and Figuier48 in 1846 for the removal of a substance called wood gum. Similar very crude xylan or hemicellulose preparations were made by other workers of the early period. Extractions were made not only from wood sawdust, but from annual plant materials such as wheat straw, corn cob, etc.49-66... 

Yundt64 obtains a crystalline xylan from the xylan-rich fraction of straw or birchwood hemicellulose. The fraction is hydrolyzed with 0.2% oxalic acid solution for five hours at 100°. Upon autoclaving the insoluble residue approximately 0.2% dissolves and precipitates as hexagonal platelets when the filtrate is cooled to 60-70°. Very likely this crystalline material is of low molecular weight. 

Hydrolysis of xylan produces principally D-xylose.71 By hydrolysis of straw xylan in 3% nitric acid, Heuser and Jayme72 obtained crystalline D-xylose in 85% yield. Using a similar procedure, Hampton, Haworth and Hirst70 obtained a yield of 93% crystalline D-xylose from esparto xylan. A practically identical yield was indicated by reducing sugar determination made on the hydrolysis products of corn seedling xylan.68... 

On treatment with periodatd ion, straw and beechwood xylan oxidize rapidly.104 As with other polysaccharides, the oxidation comes to a more definite end point in solutions which are buffered to pH 4-5. While somewhat more than the theoretical amount of periodate ion is consumed, the reaction apparently proceeds uniformly with oxidative cleavage of the 2,3 carbon bond to produce the structure indicated in Figure 4. In the course of the reaction the xylan passes into solution. The optical rotation of the oxidized product is surprisingly high (co. 100°). 

Other workers140 have also examined the products derived by hydrolysis of periodate-oxidized xylan. Both wheat straw and com cob xylan, after oxidation and hydrolysis, yield small amounts of L-arabinose and D-xylose. These sugars are obtained even after the xylans have been subjected to extended periods of oxidation. It is concluded that the D-xylose constituted branch points in the xylan. Likewise, the L-arabi-nose molecules must not have been terminal units in a xylan chain but must have been either interior units in the xylan molecule or have constituted an araban-like polysaccharide which is in combination or admixture with the xylan polysaccharide. 

The presence of feruloyl and p-coumaroyl acids linked via L-arabinose residues has been verified in several studies of xylan (6-8). The amounts of these components, however, are rather small. Every 15th arabinose unit in barley straw arabinoxylan is estimated to be esterified with ferulic acid, and every 31st with p-coumaric acid (7). These hydroxycinnamic acids are bound to C-5 of the arabinose residue (7, 8). It has been suggested that oxidative dimerization of ferulic acid residues crosslinks the arabinoxylan chains and renders them insoluble as a result of the diferuloyl bridges (9). 

Rassow and Dorr have also nitrated pure xylan, isolated from straw cellulose. By applying a concentrated nitrating acid, mixed at the proportions mentioned above they prepared nitroxylan in the form of a white powder containing 8.76% N, in 115.7% yield. 

The extent of hydrolysis of D-xylans by /S-D-xylosidase should denote the extent of substitution, but variation in the action patterns of enzymes may be reflected in the various results that have been obtained using enzymes from different sources. /S-D-Xylosidase hydrolyzed a soluble D-xylan from Shirakamba wood68 to the extent of 39%, and rice-straw D-xylan released D-xylose,69 but other D-xylans underwent no significant hydrolysis.70 /3-d-Xylosidase has been employed in partially determining the structures of... 

PENTOSAN. A complex carbohydrate (hemicellulose) present with the cellulose in many woody plant tissues, particularly cereal straws and brans, characterized by hydrolysis to give five-carbon-atom sugars (pentoses). Thus the pentosan xylan yields the sugar xylose (HOH,C CHOH CHOH CHOH CHO) that is dehydrated with sulfuric acid to yield furfural (C5H4O2). 

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