THE SUGAR COMPOSITION OF THE WATER-SOLUBLE POLYSACCHARIDES FROM RAMIE

The water-soluble polysaccharides were gradually extracted from ramie with cold and hot water, then hydrolyzed with acid. The neutral and ac id sugars in the hydrolyzates were converted into acetylated aldononit riles and diethyl dithioacetal trimethylsilylates, separately. Results analyzed by GC show that the sugar components in tile hydrolyzate of water-soluble polysaccharide from ramie are mainly D-galactose, L-rham nose, D-glucose, L-arabinose, D-mannose, D-galacturonic acid, with sma ll amounts of L-fucose, D-xylose, L-lyxose and D-galacturonic methyl e ster. Besides tile polysaccharides, some oligosaccharides and monosacc harides were also found in the water extracts of ramie. The sugar comp onents in the hydrolyzate of oligosaccharides mixture are similar to t hose of water-soluble polysaccharides. The free monosaccharides of wat er extract from ramie are mainly D-erythrose and heptose, with traces of D-galactose, L-arabinose and D-galacturonic acid.