CUPRIETHYLENEDIAMINE AS A REAGENT FOR HEMICELLULOSE SEPARATION FROM WHEAT STRAW HOLOCELLULOSE

Abstract

Wheat straw and wheat straw holocellulose were dispersed in aqueous cupriethylenediamine solutions and fractionated by graded precipitation with acid and alcohol. From the holocellulose a 25.4% recovery of a hemicellulose containing negligible quantities of hexoses was achieved. The corresponding product from wheat straw was contaminated with both lignin and cellulose but a comparison of the chemical compositions of the two hemicelluloses showed that the acid chlorite used for delignification had caused very little hydrolytic action. The acetate of the hemicellulose from holocellulose was fractionated from chloroform solution by the addition of petroleum ether into a series of fractions and subfractions. Analysis of representative fractions from this series led to the conclusion that the hexoses present were not chemically combined with pentosan. Molecular weights were determined by periodate oxidation, the Signer isothermal distillation method, and from the lowering of the vapor pressure of their chloroform solutions and showed that the hemicellulose molecules were relatively small (mol. wt. < 10,000). The decreasing ratio of xylose to arabinose in the fractions of lower molecular weight indicated increasing chain branching.