Abstract
The investigation in the mode of the action of cellulose-splitting enzymes, by which polysacharides having 1, 4 β-glucosidic linkage are broken down finally to glucose, has been carried out. The results obtained are summarized as follows:
(1) It was confirmed by measuring the reducing at'ility, the rotatory power and the RF value, that the split sugar out of hydrocellulose by a cellulase solution freed from β-gluco-sidase and cellobiase was almost all cellobiose except very small amount of, glucose, and moreover the cellobiose was isolated in crystalline fofm from the sugar solution.
(2) The ratio of the copper numbers of different, , kinds of hydrocelluloses before and after the enzymic attack is almost inversely proportional to the weight ratio of these specimens.
(3) The ratio of the iodine values and the weight of those different kinds of cellodextrins before and after the enzymic breakdown, which should be the degree of polymerization of 8-12, are also inversely proportional to each other.
(4) In view of these results it is infered that cellulase cuts off successively cellobiose from the end portions of the long chain of cellulose.
