1. Instead of allowing any arbitrary number for the volume of the undissolved zinc, decant the liquid, after inversion, into another flask and wash repeatedly with hot water until all trace of sugar is removed from the flask in which the inversion took place.
2. Instead of polarizing in a 200 millimeter tube make the observation in a 500 millimeter tube, which will permit of the reading being made without any correction whatever.
96. Inversion by Means of Invertase.—Instead of using acids for the inversion of cane sugar the hydrolysis can be easily effected by means of a ferment derived from yeast. A complete history of the literature and characteristics of this ferment, together with a study of its properties and the various methods of preparing it, has been given by O’Sullivan and Tompson.[60] In the preparation of invertase, the method found most effective is the following:
The yeast is allowed to liquify for at least a month in a fairly warm room without stirring. At the end of this time the surface is removed and any supernatant liquid poured away. The lower sedimentary part is thrown on a quick-acting filter and allowed to drain for two days. To the filtrate, alcohol of specific gravity 0.87 is gradually added to the extent of one and a half times its volume, with continued and vigorous stirring. The process of adding the alcohol and stirring should require about half an hour, after which the mixture is allowed to stand for twenty-four hours to allow the precipitated invertase to settle. The supernatant liquid is poured away and the precipitate washed several times on successive days by decantation with alcohol of 0.92 specific gravity. When the washings become nearly colorless the precipitate is thrown on a filter, allowed to drain, and immediately removed and mixed with a large bulk of alcohol of 0.92 specific gravity. The precipitate is again collected, mixed thoroughly with its own bulk of water, and some alcohol of 0.97 specific gravity, allowed to stand for a few hours and thrown on a filter. The filtrate contains the invertase.
97. Determination of Activity of Invertase.—The activity of a solution of invertase, prepared as above, is measured by the number of minutes required for it to reduce to zero the optical power of a solution of 100 times its weight of cane sugar at a temperature of 15°.5. In order to facilitate the action of the invertase, a trace of sulfuric acid is added to the solution. The manipulation is as follows:
Fifty grams of sucrose are dissolved in water and made to a volume of nearly a quarter of a liter and placed in a bath maintained at 15°.5. Half a gram of the invertase is added, the time noted, the solution immediately made up to a quarter of a liter and well shaken. The contents of the flask are poured rapidly into five beakers; the actual quantity in each beaker is not necessarily the same. To each of these beakers, in succession, are added the following amounts of decinormal sulfuric acid, viz., one-tenth, three-tenths, six-tenths, one, and one and four-tenths cubic centimeters. After an hour a small quantity of the solution is taken from beaker No. 3 and the reaction of the invertase stopped by adding a few drops of strong potassium hydroxid and the time of adding this reagent noted. This solution is then read in the polariscope and the percentage of sugar inverted is calculated from the formula C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁ + H₂O = C₆H₁₂O₆ + C₆H₁₂O₆.
The calculation of the amount of cane sugar inverted is based on the formula,
(38.4 - d) ÷ 0.518 = p.
In this formula d equals the divisions of the sugar scale read on the polariscope; p the percentage of cane sugar inverted; 38.4 the reading on the sugar scale of the original sugar solution and 51.8 the total number of divisions of the cane sugar scale that the polariscope reading would fall through if all the sugar were inverted. The observation tubes used in the polarization are only 100 millimeters in length. After stopping the action of the invertase with potassium hydroxid the solution is allowed to stand for some time before polarization inasmuch as the dextrose formed appears to assume the state of birotation and some time is required for it to reach its normal rotatory power. If the invertase be used in the alcoholic solution a sufficient quantity should be added to be equivalent to 0.01 of the sucrose present. The time which the contents of beaker No. 3 will take to reach optical activity is calculated in a manner described by O’Sullivan and Tompson, but too long to be inserted here.[61] The five beakers mentioned above are examined in succession and the amount of sulfuric acid best suited to the maximum inversion thus determined. This quantity is then used in subsequent hydrolyses with the given sample of invertase.
The action of invertase on sucrose is very rapid at the first and becomes very much slower towards the end. At a temperature of 15°.5 it is advisable to let the solution stand for forty-eight hours in order to be sure that complete inversion has taken place. For this reason the method by inversion by means of invertase is one of no great practical importance, but it may often be useful to the analyst when the employment of an acid is inadmissible.