Part 32

Maltosazone.—This substance melts at 206° with decomposition. It is left rotating. Its structure is represented by the formula C₂₄H₃₂N₄O₉.

Galactosazone.—This substance, C₁₈H₂₂N₄O₄, has the same centesimal composition as the corresponding bodies produced from dextrose and levulose. It is distinguished from these compounds, however, by its low melting point, viz., 193°.

The above comprise all the phenylosazones which are important from the present point of view. Sucrose, by inversion, furnishes a mixture of dextros- and levulosazones when treated with phenylhydrazin, while starch and dextrin yield the dextros- or maltosazone when hydrolyzed. Lactose yields a mixture of dextros- and galactosazones when hydrolyzed and treated as above described.

The reactions with phenylhydrazin are approximately quantitive and it is possible that methods of exact determination may be based on them in the near future.

=173. Other Qualitive Tests for Sugars.=—The analyst may sometimes desire a more extended test of qualitive reactions than those given above. The changes of color noticed on heating with alkalies may often be of advantage in discriminating between different sugars. The formation of definite compounds with the earthy and other mineral bases may also be used for qualitive determinations. One of the most delicate qualitive tests is found in the production of furfurol and this will be described in the following paragraphs.

=174. Detection of Sugars and Other Carbohydrates by Means of Furfurol.=—The production of furfurol (furfuraldehyd) as noted in paragraph =150=, is also used quantitively for the determination of pentose sugars and pentosans.

Furfurol was first obtained from bran (furfur), whence its name, by treating this substance with sulfuric acid, diluted with three volumes of water, and subjecting the mixture to distillation. Its percentage composition is represented by the symbol C₅H₄O₂, and its characteristics as an aldehyd by the molecular structure C₄H₃O,C-HO.

Carbohydrates in general, when treated as described above for bran, yield furfurol, but only in a moderate quantity, with the exception of the pentoses.

Mylius has shown that Pettenkofer’s reaction for choleic acid is due to the furfurol arising from the cane sugar employed, which, with the gall acid, produces the beautiful red-blue colors characteristic of the reaction.

Von Udránszky describes methods for detecting traces of carbohydrates by the furfurol reaction, which admit of extreme delicacy. The solution of furfurol in water, at first proposed by Mylius, is to be used and it should not contain more than two and two-tenths per cent, while a solution containing five-tenths per cent furfurol is found to be most convenient. The furfurol, before using, should be purified by distillation, and, as a rule, only a single drop of the solution used for the color reaction.

The furfurol reaction proposed by Schiff appears to be well suited for the detection of carbohydrates. It is made as follows:

Xylidin is mixed with an equal volume of glacial acetic acid and the solution treated with some alcohol. Strips of filter paper are then dipped in the solution and dried. When these strips of prepared paper are brought in contact with the most minute portion of furfurol, furoxylidin is formed, C₄H₃OCH(C₈H₈NH₂)₂, producing a beautiful red color. In practice, a small portion of the substance, supposed to contain a carbohydrate, is placed in a test tube and heated with a slight excess of concentrated sulfuric acid. The prepared paper is then placed over the mouth of the test tube so as to be brought into contact with the escaping vapors of furfurol.

The furfurol reaction with α-naphthol for some purposes, especially the detection of sugar in urine, is more delicate than the one just described. This reaction was first described by Molisch, who, however, did not understand its real nature.

The process is carried on as follows: The dilute solution should contain not to exceed from 0.05 to one-tenth per cent of carbohydrates. If stronger, it should be diluted. Place one drop of the liquid in a test tube with two drops of fifteen per cent alcoholic solution of α-naphthol, add carefully one-half cubic centimeter of concentrated sulfuric acid, allowing it to flow under the mixture. The appearance of a violet ring over a greenish fringe indicates the presence of a carbohydrate. If the substance under examination contain more than a trace of nitrogenous matter, this must be removed before the tests above described are applied.

If the liquids be mixed by shaking when the violet ring is seen, a carmine tint with a trace of blue is produced. If this be examined with a spectroscope, a small absorption band will be found between D and E, and from F outward the whole spectrum will be observed. One drop of dextrose solution containing 0.05 per cent of sugar gives a distinct reaction by this process. It can be used, therefore, to detect the presence of as little as 0.028 milligram of grape sugar. This test has been found exceedingly delicate in this laboratory, and sufficiently satisfactory without the spectroscopic adjunct.

The furfurol reaction is useful in detecting the presence of minute traces of carbohydrates but is of little value in discriminating between the different classes of these bodies.

It is not practical here to go into greater detail in the description of qualitive reactions. The analyst, desiring further information, should consult the standard works on sugar chemistry.

=175. Detection of Sugars by Bacterial Action.=—Many forms of bacteria manifest a selective action towards sugars and this property may in the future become the basis of a qualitive and even quantitive test for sugars and other carbohydrates. Our present knowledge of the subject is due almost exclusively to the researches of Smith, conducted at the Department of Agriculture. Dextrose is the sugar first and most vigorously attacked by bacterial action, and by proper precautions the whole of the dextrose may be removed from mixtures with sucrose and lactose.

The development of other forms of micro-organisms which will have the faculty of attacking other and special forms of carbohydrates is to be looked for with confident assurance of success.

DETERMINATION OF STARCH.

=176. Constitution of Starch.=—The molecule of starch is without doubt formed by the condensation of a large number of hexose bodies. On account of its great insolubility its molecular weight has not been determined with any degree of accuracy. Its formula may be expressed either as (C₆H₁₀O₅)ₙ or (C₁₂H₂₀O₁₀)ₙ. It is insoluble in cold water and other common solvents and does not pass into solution in any reagent without undergoing a change of structure. In hot water it forms a paste and when heated under pressure with water it undergoes a partial change and becomes soluble. Heated with acids or subjected to the action of certain ferments it suffers hydrolysis and is transformed into dextrin, maltose and dextrose. In analytical work an attempt is usually made to transform the starch entirely into dextrose, the quantity of which is then determined by some of the processes already given. All starches possess the property of giving an intensely blue color with iodin and this reaction serves to detect the most minute quantity of the material.

Starch grains derived from different sources are distinguished by differences in size and appearance. In most cases a careful examination of the starch particles will reveal their origin. The greatest part of the cereal grains is composed of starch, the percentage ranging from sixty to eighty. Rice has the greatest percentage of starch in its composition of any substance. Certain root crops are also rich in starch, such as the potato, artichoke and cassava. Starch appears as one of the first products of vegetable metabolism, according to some authorities, preceding the formation of sugars. By reason of its greater complexity, however, it is more probable that the production of simple sugars precedes the formation of the more complex molecule. Starch granules are probably used as a food by the plant in the building of more complex structures and the excess of this food is stored in the seeds and in tubers.

=177. Separation of Starch Particles.=—Advantage is taken of the insolubility of the starch particles to secure their separation from the other vegetable structures with which they are associated. The substances containing starch are reduced to a pulp as fine as possible, and this pulp being placed in a fine cloth the starch particles are washed through the cloth with water. The milky filtrate carrying the starch is collected in an appropriate holder and, after some time, the particles subside. They may then be collected and dried. While this process is the one used commercially in the manufacture of starch, it can only give approximate data respecting the actual quantity of starch in a given weight of the sample. It is not quite possible by this method to get all the starch separated from the rest of the vegetable matter, and particles of foreign substances, such as cellulose and albuminoid matters, may pass through the filter cloth and be found with the deposited granules. It follows from this that the quantitive determination of the starch in a given sample by any direct method is only approximately exact.

=178. Methods of Separation.=—Hot acids cannot be safely employed to dissolve starch from its natural concomitants because other carbohydrate bodies become soluble under similar conditions. In such cases the natural sugars which are present should be removed by cold water and the starch dissolved from the residue by a diastatic ferment. Instead of this the sugars may be determined in a separate portion of the pulped material and the starch, together with the sugars, determined, and the quantity of sugar found deducted from the final result.

In these cases the final determinations are made on the sugars, after inverting the sucrose, and proceeding as directed for invert sugars in paragraph =141=. The starch, after separation with diastase, is converted into dextrose by one of the methods to be given and the resulting dextrose determined by one of the approved methods.

=179. Separation with Diastase.=—Diastase or malt extract at a temperature of about 65° rapidly renders starch soluble. Cereals, potato meal and other starch-holding bodies are dried, first at a low temperature, and extracted with ether or petroleum to remove fat. The material is then rubbed up with water, boiled, cooled to 65°, and treated with malt extract (diastase) prepared as given below. One kilogram of ground green malt is mixed with one liter of glycerol and an equal quantity of water, and allowed to stand, with frequent shaking, for eight days. After that time the mixture is filtered, first through a small filter press and afterwards through paper. In case no filter press is at hand the mixture may be pressed in a bag and the liquor obtained, filtered. Malt extract obtained in this way will keep its diastatic properties for a long time. In its use, blank determinations must be made of the dextrose produced by treating equal portions of it with hydrochloric acid. For three grams of starchy material twenty-five cubic centimeters of the malt solution should be used and the mixture kept at 65° for two hours.

=180. Method in Use at the Halle Station.=—The method of separating starch from cereals, potatoes and other starch-holding materials, employed at the Halle station, is essentially the same as already described.

The malt extract used is prepared immediately beforehand, inasmuch as no preservative is added to it. It can be quickly prepared by digesting, for a short time at not above 50°, 100 grams of finely ground dried malt with one liter of water and separating the extract by filtration. This extract will keep only a few hours.