OCCURRENCE OF A NOVEL GALACTOPINITOL AND ITS CHANGES WITH OTHER NONREDUCING SUGARS DURING DEVELOPMENT OF LEUCAENA-LEUCOCEPHALA SEEDS

A new cyclitol which is abundant in the late developmental stages of l eucaena (Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit) seeds was identified by HPLC, NMR, and GC-MS as O-alpha-D-galactopyranosyl-(1 --> 1)-3- O-meth yl-D-chiro-inositol, a new galactopinitol. This galactopinitol was ini tially detected midway through seed development and increased to 10.2 mg (g DW)(-1), but decreased in mature seeds to its about a half. Stac hyose content increased greatly and remained the most abundant of the soluble sugars in mature seeds (25.6 mg (g DW)-1). Artificial drying a t 73% relative humidity of 70 DPA immature seeds induced the accumulat ion of raffinose, stachyose, galactopinitol and galactinol, but the to tal amounts of these sugars were only about half of those found in mat ure seeds. Seed germination decreased following an initial increase af ter 8 d artificial drying to a moisture content of 24%, and this dehyd ration damage probably is because of underdevelopment of seed tissue. Galactopinitol changes in a similar fashion to the oligosaccharides du ring the late developmental stage and dehydration experiment, implying that galactopinitol may play a role in desiccation tolerance of leuca ena seeds.