Abstract
Methylation analysis was used to investigate the bonds to lignin of the carbohydrates remaining after enzymatic hydrolysis and alkaline reduction of ball-milled loblolly pine wood and red pine compression wood. The carbohydrates exist as oligomeric chains with degrees of polymerization of 7–14. Approximately one sugar unit per oligomer chain is bonded to lignin. Bonding at C-6 of the hexose units is favored, and the arabinose is bonded exclusively at C-5. Galactan and arabinan are structurally of the 1–4 and 1–5 linked types respectively, characteristic of the so-called “pectic group substances.”