ENZYMIC DEGRADATION OF CEREAL HEMICELLULOSES III. OLIGOSACCHARIDE PRODUCTION FROM β-GLUCAN

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Abstract
Of the two glucodisaccharides, four trisaccharides and eight tetrasaccharides which might be expected to arise by degradation of β-linked glucose polymer containing irregular arrangements of 1.3- and 1.4-linkages, evidence is presented which suggests that all but one of the tetrasaccharides have been obtained, by enzymic or acidic degradation, from β-glucans isolated from barley or oats. Enzymic degradation—whether by endo-β-glucanase or exo-β-glucanase, and whether from the barley or the oat product—gives broadly the same qualitative pattern of oligosaccharide production, though there are minor differences. Oligosaccharides containing only one type of linkage are accompanied by others with mixed linkages, and description is given of the tentative characterization of the various products by a combination of chromatographic and electrophoretic techniques. The molecular constitution of the two glucans cannot be accounted for on the basis of regular alternation of small numbers of the two types of linkage.

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