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PROPERTIES
BY H. A. SPOEHR AND HAROLD W. MILNER
(From the Carnegie Institution of Washington, Division of Plant Biology,
Stanford University, California)
* Corrected for ash by subtraction of the weight of the ash from the
weight of the original starch sample.
solved, that is, without any separation of the starch from the
liquid of the original solution, and the reducing power determined
of this redissolved starch. This solution also showed maximum
reducing power after hydrolysis of 4.5 to 5 hours, as was the case
with the leaf starches which had been obtained by retrogradation.
TABLE II
Per Cent Hydrolysis of Starch of Different Origins and Methods of Preparation
Kind of starch
Time of Retrograded potato Tobacco kaf
hydrolysis
Am.
TABLE III
Comparative Analyses of Tobacco Leaf Starch Prepared by Freezing Method
and by Precipitation with Ethanol
[al; at
maximum
Source of starch N;;E- A& co2 [aI; redwing
POWT
ltfter hy-
drolysis
---~~
per cent per centper cent degrees degrees
“Standard” potato.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <0.07 0.252 0.26 +194.6 +51.6
Tobacco leaf pptd. with ethanol.. . . 0.20 0.345 0.57 +196.0 +49.3
‘I “ “ by freezing. . . . . 0.12 0.219 0.38 +197.5 +48.9
The relative reducing power of the starch obtained from the differ-
ent leaves is, therefore, not very much below that of the pure
potato starch which had undergone retrogradation.
Leaves contain considerable, though varying, amounts of
polyuronides, such as gums and peck substances. The purpose
of the cold water extraction of the leaf material was to free it as
much as possible from these substances in order to avoid contami-
H. A. Spoehr and H. W. Milner