CONSTITUTION OF A POLYURONIDE HEMICELLULOSE FROM WHEAT LEAF

1954 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. A. Adams

Crude hemicellulose of mature wheat leaves has been prepared by alkaline extraction of leaf holocellulose. Purification by repeated complexing with Fehling′s solution yielded a polyuronide hemicellulose [Formula: see text] composed of D-xylose (88.5%), L-arabinose (6.90%), and uronic acid anhydride (5.27%). Methylation studies indicated a molecular structure comprising a main xylan chain of 30 an-hydro- D-xylose residues to which three L-arabinose residues and one D-glucuronic acid unit were attached as side chains by glycosidic linkages. Periodate oxidation data supported the proposed structure and the yield of formic acid indicated a molecule containing approximately 32 sugar residues. Estimations of the degree of polymerization of the molecule by measurements of viscosity and reducing power agreed with the foregoing values. The structure of the hemicellulose closely resembled that of one isolated previously from wheat straw.

1955 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. A. Adams

The hemicellulose prepared from wheat bran by alkaline extraction was an acidic polysaccharide containing arabinose (50.0%), xylose (38.5%), and uronic acid (9.0%). Graded hydrolysis with 0.02 N oxalic acid preferentially released 65% of the arabinose with only a small simultaneous production of xylose. Hydrolysis of the full methylated hemicellulose yielded 2,3,4-tri-O-methyl-, 2,3-di-O-methyl-, 2-O-methyl-, and free D-xylose; 2,3,5-tri-O-methyl-, 2,5-di-O-methyl-, and probably 3- and 5-O-methyl-L-arabinose. These data, together with those from periodate oxidation, strongly suggested that the molecule was a highly branched araboxylan. Viscosity measurements and reducing power determinations indicated a degree of polymerization of 300.


1960 ◽  
Vol 38 (12) ◽  
pp. 2402-2409 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. A. Adams

An acidic xylan isolated from tamarack wood contained arabinose, xylose, and uronic acid (1:17:3) and was homogeneous on examination by electrophoresis and sedimentation. Molecular weight estimations by four different methods showed a degree of polymerization of 20. Methylation and periodate oxidation showed that the xylan consisted of ca. 16 β-D-xylopyranose units joined by 1 → 4 glycosidic bonds with the possible occurrence of one 1 → 3 linkage. To this unbranched structure were attached as side branches, three single units of 4-O-methyl-D-glucuronic acid through C2 and one unit of L-arabofuranose through C3.


1952 ◽  
Vol 30 (9) ◽  
pp. 698-710 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. A. Adams

The structure of a polyuronide hemicellulose from wheat straw containing xylose, arabinose, and hexuronic acid units has been investigated. Graded hydrolysis preferentially removed anhydro-L-arabinose units leaving a xylan to which uronic acid units were attached. Methylation and hydrolysis yielded 2,3,4-trimetliyl xylose (2.7%) indicating one nonreducing end group per 37 units; 2,3,5-trimethyl-L-arabinose, 2,3-dimethyl-D-xylose, and 2-methyl-D-xylose were found in a molar ratio 1:5:1. In addition, a methylated uronic acid complex was recovered which on extensive hydrolysis yielded an aldobiuronic acid. The latter, on reduction with sodium borohydride, yielded 2,3,4-trimethyl glucose (1 mole) and 2-methyl xylose (1 mole); the structure 2-methyl 3[2,3,4-trimethyl α-D-glucuronosido] D-xylose was therefore indicated for the methylated aldobiuronic acid.A structure for the hemicellulose is proposed which consists of approximately 32 anhydro-D-xylose units linked β 1,4- in a chain to which five anhydro-L-arabinose and three D-glucuronic acid units are attached as side groups by 1,3-glycosidic bonds. Results of periodate oxidation and estimation of reducing power support the proposed structure.


1980 ◽  
Vol 191 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingrid Sjöberg ◽  
Lars-Ȧke Fransson

1. 3H- and 35S-labelled heparan sulphate was isolated from monolayers of human lung fibroblasts and subjected to degradations by (a) deaminative cleavage and (b) periodate oxidation/alkaline elimination. Fragments were resolved by gel- and ion-exchange-chromatography. 2. Deaminative cleavage of the radioactive glycan afforded mainly disaccharides with a low content of ester-sulphate and free sulphate, indicating that a large part (approx. 80%) of the repeating units consisted of uronosyl-glucosamine-N-sulphate. Blocks of non-sulphated [glucuronosyl-N-acetyl glucosamine] repeats (3–4 consecutive units) accounted for the remainder of the chains. 3. By selective oxidation of glucuronic acid residues associated with N-acetylglucosamine, followed by scission in alkali, the radioactive glycan was degraded into a series of fragments. The glucuronosyl-N-acetylglucosamine-containing block regions yielded a compound N-acetylglucosamine–R, where R is the remnant of an oxidized and degraded glucuronic acid. Periodate-insensitive uronic acid residues were recovered in saccharides of the general structure glucosamine–(uronic acid–glucosamine)n–R. 4. Further degradations of these saccharides via deaminative cleavage and re-oxidations with periodate revealed that iduronic acid may be located in sequences such as glucosamine-N-sulphate→iduronic acid→N-acetylglucosamine. Occasionally the iduronic acid was sulphated. Blocks of iduronic acid-containing repeats may contain up to five consecutive units. Alternating arrangements of iduronic acid- and glucuronic acid-containing repeats were also observed. 5. 3H- and 35S-labelled heparan sulphates from sequential extracts of fibroblasts (medium, EDTA, trypsin digest, dithiothreitol extract, cell-soluble and cell-insoluble material) afforded similar profiles after both periodate oxidation/alkaline elimination and deaminative cleavage.


1950 ◽  
Vol 28c (6) ◽  
pp. 754-779 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. W. A. Roberts

The nonreducing sugar in wheat leaves is probably entirely sucrose. It is the only abundant sugar. Free reducing sugars are absent, or almost absent from wheat leaves grown under the conditions described. The reducing power in the cleared alcoholic extracts of the leaves is, at least, partly due to degradation products of ascorbic acid. Other nonsugar reducing substances also are apparently present. The alcohol insoluble residue from wheat leaves contains little or no fructosan, dextrin, or starch at the two and one-half week old stage. Satisfactory methods for extracting and determining the sucrose are described. The following methods gave satisfactory results with wheat leaf extracts: the reducing power methods of Hanes and Somogyi after acid or preferably invertase hydrolysis, Ost's solution for fructose residues, the method of Neuberg and Strauss, the colorimetric resorcinol method. The latter method gives only approximate values for fructose residues unless the sugar concentration is high; the method is then fairly reliable. The following methods did not give satisfactory results: Hanes and Somogyi methods for free reducing sugars initially present in the extract, the hypoiodite titration for aldose sugars, and Sieben's method for fructose determination.


1957 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 108-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Schmorak ◽  
C. T. Bishop ◽  
G. A. Adams

Graded acid hydrolysis of a soluble wheat bran hemicellulose containing L-arabinose (50%), D-xylose (38.5%), and D-glucuronic acid (9.0%) preferentially removed the L-arabinose giving an insoluble acidic polysaccharide in approximately 25% yield by weight. Methylation studies, periodate oxidation data, and hypoiodite end group estimations showed that the degraded polysaccharide was composed of repeating units of 7-8 D-xylopyranose residues joined by β,1 → 4 linkages. To this repeating unit, one D-glucuronic acid unit was attached by a 1 → 2 glycosidic bond. The cellulolytic enzyme of Myrotheciumverrucaria, which is specific for β,1 → 4 glycosidic linkages, hydrolyzed the degraded polysaccharide although it had no effect on the parent hemicellulose


1962 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 348-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. G. S. Dutton ◽  
A. M. Unrau

By determining the amount of formaldehyde produced on periodate oxidation of borohydride-reduced apple- and cherry-wood xylans the degree of polymerization was shown to be 155 and 100 respectively. Acid hydrolysis of the polyols obtained by periodate oxidation and borohydride reduction gave ethylene glycol in amounts indicating that these xylans have a small degree of branching. Mild acid hydrolysis of the polyols demonstrated that in these xylans D-glucuronic acid as well as 4-O-methyl-D-glucuronic acid was present and that some of the former occupied non-terminal positions.


1965 ◽  
Vol 43 (11) ◽  
pp. 2940-2946 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. A. Adams ◽  
Robert Young

An acidic glucomannan isolated from culture filtrate of Serratia marcescens contained D-glucose and D-mannose (3.5:1), D-glucuronic acid (5.5%), and "bound" fatty acids (7.4%). The polysaccharide, on examination by moving boundary electrophoresis and by sedimentation in the ultracentrifuge, was homogeneous. Degree of polymerization was estimated to be ca. 20 by vapor pressure osmometry. Isolation of nigerose (3-O-α-D-glucopyranosyl-D-glucopyranose) established the glycosidic linkage between the D-glucose units as α (1 → 3). Methylation and periodate oxidation data showed that the D-glucose and D-mannose units were joined by (1 → 3) linkages in a straight chain structure terminated at the non-reducing end by a unit of D-glucuronic acid which was attached to C3 of a D-mannose residue. The reducing end of the molecule was terminated by a D-glucose unit. The fatty acids, consisting mainly of hydroxymyristic acid and myristic acid, were attached to the molecule mainly by ester linkages.


1959 ◽  
Vol 37 (5) ◽  
pp. 922-929 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. L. Currie ◽  
T. E. Timell

The seed hairs of kapok (Ceibapentandra) on alkaline extraction have yielded a hemicellulose composed of xylose and uronic acid residues. Partial hydrolysis of the polysaccharide gave 2-O-(4-O-methyl-α-D-glucopyranosyluronic acid)-D-xylopyranose, 4-O-methyl-D-glucuronic acid, and, probably, galacturonic acid. Hydrolysis of the fully methylated hemicellulose yielded a mixture of 2-O- and 3-O-methyl-D-xylose, 2,3-di-O-methyl-D-xylose, 2,3,4-tri-O-methyl-D-xylose, and 2-O-(2,3,4-tri-O-methyl-α-D-glucopyranosyluronic acid)-3-O-methyl-D-xylopyranose in a molar ratio of 1.1:38:1:6. The number-average D.P. of the native and the methylated polysaccharides was 177 and 124, respectively. On the basis of this and other evidence it is suggested that the average hemicellulose molecule contains approximately 180 1,4-linked β-D-xylopyranose residues, one eighth of which carry a single terminal side chain of 4-O-methyl-D-glucuronic acid, attached through an α-glycosidic bond to C2 of the xylose. The xylan framework contains, on the average, slightly less than two branching points per macromolecule, most of them probably originating from C3. The number of acid side chains and branches is twice as large as that of the otherwise similar 4-O-methyl glucuronoxylan present in the seed hairs of milkweed floss.


1986 ◽  
Vol 51 (10) ◽  
pp. 2250-2258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rudolf Kohn ◽  
Zdena Hromádková ◽  
Anna Ebringerová

Several fractions of acid hemicelluloses isolated from rye bran were characterized by molar ratios of saccharides (D-Xyl, L-Ara, D-Glc, D-Gal) and 4-O-methyl-D-glucuronic acid and protein content. Binding of Pb2+ and Cu2+ ions to these acid polysaccharides was considered according to function (M)b = f([M2+]f), expressing the relationship between the amount of metal (M)b bound to 1 g of the substance and the concentration of free ions [M2+]f in the equilibrium solution and according to the association degree β of these cations with carboxyl groups of uronic acid at a stoichiometric ratio of both components in the system under investigation. Acid hemicelluloses contained only a very small portion of uronic acid ((COOH) 0.05-0.18 mmol g-1); the model polysaccharide, 4-O-methyl-D-glucurono-D-xylan of beech, was substantially richer in uronic acid content ((COOH) 0.73 mmol g-1). Consequently, the amount of lead and copper bound to acid hemicelluloses is very small ((M)b 0.017-0.025 mmol g-1) at [M2+]f = 0.10 mmol l-1. On the other hand, much greater amount of cations ((M)f 0.09-0.10 mmol g-1) was bound to the glucuronoxylan. The association degree β was like with the majority of samples (β = 0.31-0.38). The amount of lead and copper(II) bound to acid hemicelluloses from rye bran is several times lower than that bound to dietary fiber isolated from vegetables (cabbage, carrot), rich in pectic substances.


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