QUANTITATIVE SEPARATION OF HEMICELLULOSE, CELLULOSE, AND LIGNIN. PRESENCE OF PENTOSANES IN THESE SUBSTANCES.
Wilhelm Hoffmeister (Landw. Versuchs-Stat, 1898, 50, 347-362).
(p. 88) The separation of the cellulose-like carbohydrates of sunflower husks is described.
In order to ascertain the effect of dilute ammonia on the cellulose substances of lignin, a dried 5 p.ct. caustic soda extract was extracted successively with 1, 2, 3, and 4 p.ct. sodium hydroxide solution. Five grams of the 2 p.ct. extract were then subjected to the action of ammonia vapour; the cellulose did not completely dissolve in six weeks. Cellulose insoluble in caustic soda (32 grms.) was next extracted with ammonia, in a similar manner, for 10 days, dried, and weighed. 30.46 grms. remained, which, when treated with 5 p.ct. aqueous caustic soda, yielded 0.96 grm. (3 per cent.) of hemicellulose.
When cellulose is dissolved in Schweizer's solution, the residue is, by repeated extraction with aqueous sodium hydroxide, completely converted into the soluble form. On evaporating the ammonia from the Schweizer's extract, at the ordinary temperature and on a water-bath respectively, different amounts of cellulose are obtained; more hemicellulose is obtained, by caustic soda, from the heated solution than from that which was not heated. In this operation the pentosanes are more influenced than the hexosanes; pentosanes are not always readily dissolved by caustic soda, and hexosanes are frequently more or less readily dissolved. Both occur in lignin, and are then undoubtedly indigestible. These points have to be considered in judging the digestibility of these carbohydrates.
A comparison of analyses of clover, at different periods, in the first and second years of growth, shows that both cellulose (Schweizer's extract) and lignin increase in both constituents. In the second year the lignin alone increased to the end; the cellulose decreased at the end of June. In the first year it seemed an absolutely as well as relatively greater amount of cellulose, and lignin was produced in the second year; this, however, requires confirmation. The amount of pentosanes in the Schweizer extract was relatively greater in the second than in the first year, but decreased in the lignin more in the second year than in the first: this result is also given with reserve.
DIE CONSTITUTION DER CELLULOSEN DER CEREALIEN.
C. F. Cross, E. J. Bevan, and C. Smith (Berl. Ber., 1896, 1457).
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CEREAL CELLULOSES.
(p. 84) Straw cellulose is resolved by two methods of acid hydrolysis into a soluble furfural-yielding fraction, and an insoluble fraction closely resembling the normal cellulose. (a) The cellulose is dissolved in sulphuric acids of concentration, H2SO4.2H2O, H2SO4.3H2O. As soon as solution is complete, the acid is diluted. A precipitate of cellulose hydrate (60-70 p.ct.) is obtained, and the filtered solution contains 90-95 p.ct. of the furfuroids of the original cellulose. The process is difficult to control, however, in mass, and to obtain the latter in larger quantity the cellulose (b) is digested with six times its weight of 1 p.ct. H2SO4 at 3 atm. pressure, the products of the action being (1) a disintegrated cellulose retaining only a small fraction (1/12) of the furfural-yielding groups, and (2) a slightly coloured solution of the hydrolised furfuroids. An investigation of the latter gave the following results: By oxidation with nitric acid no saccharic acid was obtained; showing the absence of dextrose. The numbers for cupric reduction were in excess of those obtained with the hexoses. The yield of ozazone was high, viz. 30 to 40 p.ct. of the weight of the carbohydrate in solution. On fractionating, the melting-points of the fractions were found to lie between 146° and 153°. Ultimate analysis gave numbers for C, H, and N identical with those of a pentosazone. The product of hydrolysis appears, therefore, to be xylose or a closely related derivative.