CONSTITUTION OF A 4-O-METHYLGLUCURONOXYLAN FROM THE WOOD OF TREMBLING ASPEN (POPULUS TREMULOIDES MICHX.)

A 4-O-methylglucuronoxylan has been isolated in almost quantitative yield from the wood of trembling aspen (Populustretmuloides Michx.) The hemicellulose was electrophoretically homogeneous and had a number-average degree of polymerization of 212. Partial hydrolysis gave D-xylose, galacturonic acid, 4-O-methylglucuronic acid, and 2-O-(4-O-methyl-α-D-glucopyranosyluronic acid)-D-xylopyranose. Methanolysis and hydrolysis of the fully methylated polysaccharide, which contained 108 xylose residues per average molecule, gave 2-O-methylxylose, 2,3-di-O-methyl-D-xylose, 2,3,4-tri-O-methyl-D-xylose, and methyl 2-O-(2,3,4-tri-O-methyl-α-D-glucopyranosyluronic acid) -3-O-methyl-D-xylopyranoside in a mole ratio of 0.2:95:1:11. It is concluded that the hemicellulose contained a linear framework of approximately 200 (1 → 4)-linked β-D-xylopyranose residues and that, on the average, every ninth xylose unit carried a (1 → 2)-linked 4-O-methyl-α-D-glucuronic acid residue directly attached to the xylan backbone. The polysaccharide is evidently similar to the 4-O-methylglucuron-oxylans occurring in the wood of all arborescent angiosperms so far investigated.