The effect of cations on the isomeric conversion of dextrose to fructose was examined with the aim of bringing the reaction into industrial scale.
In order to elucidate the difference on the isomerization among alkali metal ions, which are more effective catalysts as compared with those of alkaline-earth metals, each aliquot of lithium, sodium and potassium ions was added to the reaction system of the same pH, same kind and concentration of anions prepared by phosphate buffer solutions, and then glucose was isomerized in this system at pH values of 6.50, 6.80 and 7.50, respectively. No difference was found among these three cations at these pH levels.
It is concluded that there is no difference among the same moles of lithium ion, sodium ion and potassium ion on the catalytic action of isomerization in the same pH, same kind and concentration of anion coexistence, and the metal ions have weak catalytic action on the isomerization even in slightly acidic solution.

View full abstract

A spore-forming bacterium, strain No. 271, isolated from soil produced an extracellular polysaccharide in a medium containing glucose by shaking culture for 4 days at 30°C. When fermentation was finished, culture fluids had a viscosity as high as 18, 000 centipoises and contained about 1.6% of polymer.
A white polymer was recovered from the viscous fermentation broth by precipitation with methanol in the presence of an electrolyte. The aqueous solution of the polymer had a viscosity comparable with that of guar gum, and the viscosity was enhanced still further by the addition of acids, salts and sugars.
The acidic polymer was obtained only from glucose, but the polymer formed from sucrose was the mixture of the acidic and the neutral one. The acidic polymer was composed of glucose, mannose, galactose and glucuronic acid, while the neutral polymer was composed of glucose, mannose, galactose and fructose.

View full abstract

Twenty synthetic isothiocyanates involving n-alkyl, iso-alkyl, sec-alkyl, alkenyl, aromatic and other isothiocyanates were analysed by gas-liquid chromatography using 10% SE-30/ C-22 column and 2.5% DEGS/C-22 column. When SE-30 column was employed, logarithmic retention times in minutes versus carbon numbers in each of n-, iso-, sec-, alkenyl and aromatic class isothiocyanates were individually plotted on the straight lines. These straight lines were parallel. When DEGS column was employed, these straight lines were also parallel except aromatic class.
In isothiocyanates possessing equal carbon numbers, retention times were slowest in aromatic class, next were n-, alkenyl, iso- and sec- class isothiocyanates in the order when SE-30 column was employed.
This tendency was also as same as that of boiling point. When DEGS column was employed, retention times of alkenyl class were slower than n-alkyl class, but aromatic, iso-alkyl and sec-alkyl classes were as same as in SE-30 column.

View full abstract

As a series of studies on microbiological conversion of terpenes, conversion of geraniol by a newly isolated strain GM₂ of Pseudomonas aeruginosa is presented. The strain GM₂ converts geraniol to geranic acid. The strain GM₂ also metabolizes citral, citronellol, citronellal and corresponding acid as geraniol, and converts them to geranic acid, citronellic acid and corresponding compounds.

View full abstract

The triglycerides of Ceroplastes pseudoceriferus were separated according to the number of double bonds per each molecule. Column and thin-layer chromatographies on silicic acid impregnated with silver nitrate were employed for these separations. The recovered fractions were quantitated by means of a glycerol analysis. The saturated fraction occupied most part of total glycerides (86.7 mole%), and the unsaturated triglycerides which have 1 to 4 double bonds were also present in small amount. Each triglyceride fraction was subjected to pancreatic hydrolysis. The fatty acid compositions of overall and at the 2-position were determined separately, and their possible triglyceride compositions were calculated. The saturated triglycerides contained 55. 8 mole% of C₁₀ and 29.9 mole% of C₁₂ acids. Hence, the major triglycerides were C₃₀, C₃₂ and C₃₄, and these would be possibly tricaprin, laurodicaprin and caprodilaurin etc.
In the unsaturated triglycerides, the oleic and linoleic acids showed specific distribution. They were mainly found in the 1- and 3-positions of triglyceride molecule.

View full abstract

The phospholipids from Crambe abyssinica seed have been fractionated on silicic acid and DEAE cellulose columns. The weight percentages of the major components were phosphatidyl choline (34. 6), phoshatidyl inositol (27. 0) and phosphatidyl ethanolamine (24. 4).
The fatty acids from the phospholipid fractions showed a little variation in composition. But, in every case, the amount of the erucic acid was very small.

View full abstract

The liquefying properties of starch were found to be affected by defatting. Potato starch which is known to contain little fat was given a bad influence by heat during defatting. On the contrary corn starch which contains much more fat and has less susceptibility to heat was given a good influence.
The liquefying properties of starch, into which saturated monobasic fatty acids (from butyric to stearic) were incorporated, were investigated. The lower fatty acids which have smaller carbon number than capric acid had little influence, but the higher fatty acids than lauric acid were considered to form, with starch molecules, the compound incapable of being decomposed by liquefying enzyme, and gave an unfavorable influence on liquefaction of starch.

View full abstract

The acylase activities in the glutamic acid-producing bacteria and related strains, Brevibacterium sp., Corynebacterium sp. and Micrococcus sp., were investigated.
1) The acylase activities toward acetyl-DL-methionine were distributed among these bacteria, while a few strain hydrolyzed acetyl-DL-phenylalanine. The highest activity toward acetyl-DL-methionine was detected in a glutamic acid-producing strain, Corynebacterium glutamicum 9632.
2) Some enzymatic properties of this Corynebacterium glutamicum were studied with the crude preparation, lyophilized cells ; a) This preparation was found to be able to hydrolyze a number of the acyl-derivatives, such as acetyl, chloroacetyl and benzoyl derivatives of aliphatic neutral amino acid, but neither derivatives of basic, acidic nor aromatic amino acid were hydrolyzed. b) The activation of this preparation by some metal ions such as Co²⁺, was not observed, but the activity was inhibited by Cu²⁺and Hg²⁺. c) The optimal pH was observed to be around 6.5_??_7.0, and the optimal temperature was 40_??_45°C for the hydrolysis of acetyl-methionine. d) The experiments with acetyl-DL-methionine indicated that this preparation had optical specificity and hydrolyzed only L-isomer, but no D-isomer. Therefore, this preparation can be used for the optical resolution of acetyl-DL-aliphatic amino acid.

View full abstract

It has been known that Streptococcus faecalis requires lipoate or acetate for its growth in the presence of propionate. The authors found the following facts: (1) Some lipid substances, such as palmitate, oleate and behenate or lecithin, showed lipoate- or acetate-replacing effect on the growth of the organism; (2) biotin and bicarbonate stimulated the lipoate activity for the growth; (3) 2-¹⁴C-acetate added to the medium was mainly incorporated into the lipid fraction of the cells and (4) evolution of ¹⁴CO₂ from 2-¹⁴C-pyruvate was not observed in a cell-suspension of the organism even under an aerobic condition. The results obtained woulds suggest that pyruvate oxidation takes an important role in lipid synthesis of S. faecalis under the cultural conditions.

View full abstract

Experiments on the production of riboflavin glucoside from sucrose and riboflavin were carried out with members of the genus Lactobacillus, Streptococcus and Leuconostoc. It was observed that L. fermenti, Sc. bovis and Leuc. dextranicum revealed the ability to produce riboflavin glucoside when grown on a medium containing sucrose and riboflavin. All these strains which had the ability to produce riboflavin glucoside were recognized to produce dextran, while strains which lacked in the ability to produce riboflavin glucoside failed to produce dextran.

View full abstract

Both Ashbya gossypii and Eremothecium ashbyii produced riboflavin and a remarkable amount of riboflavin glucoside in growing cultures, when grown on maltose medium under the shaking conditions. Maltose was the only active carbon source for the production of riboflavin glucoside, while glucose and sucrose were ineffective.

View full abstract

L-Phenylalanine was prepared by the catalytic reduction of O-tosyl-L-tyrosine with Raney nickel catalyst in alkaline medium. Any change of configuration did not occur. In the reaction mixture, some tyrosine, hydrolyzed product of the O-tosyl ester, can be detected. L-Phenylalanine was isolated from the reaction mixture by the treatment with a cation-exchange resin and the fractional crystallization. The yield of L-phenylalanine was about 55% of the theoretical amount.
The reduction of ditosyl-L-tyrosine gave N-tosyl-L-phenylalanine. An improved method for the preparation of O-tosyl-L-tyrosine is also reported.

View full abstract