I CARBOHYDRATES, CHITIN AND CUTIN 517 



(known as "Lintnerization"). Hanson and Katz suppose that the 

 blocks consist of packets of amyloses and that the swollen inter- 

 mediate substance is amylopectin. This view is not borne out by the 

 staining properties of the substances, since the basic dyestufF, fuchsine, 

 stains the blocks a deep red, whereas rvOOCZl^^ 



the supposed amylopectin intermed- r^P*^ nn^'^'^Q^ 



iate substance remains colourless. r^rr€^^^:^rf4=^lf]^^^ 



Seeing that this block structure is c96^<^K^^°^^^m> ^S\ 

 formed only after the application of 8§Hmo^^o\P§^ 

 strong hydrolysis with hydrochloric RR QQfx'^^ °n! )o^ '^'^ 

 acid, the view of pre-formation is 

 hardly tenable; it is more likely to be 

 a case of hydrolysis patterns (Frey- 

 Wyssling, 1936a, p. 290). This kind 

 of partitioning of objects made up of 

 high-polymeric chain molecules has Fig. 157. Microscopic block structure 



likewise been observed in theproduc- "^ "linjnerized" wheat starch (from 



^ Hanson and Katz, 1934). 



tion of chemical cross-sections through 



cellulose fibres with sulphuric acid (Kelaney and Searle, 1930), the 

 decomposition of cotton into "dermatosomes" by hydrochloric acid 

 (Farr and Eckerson, 1934) and m the decomposition of muscle fibres 

 in acid alcohol (Schmidt, 1937a, p. 180). Thus in all these cases 

 hydrolytic agents are necessary to produce the reported dissociations. 

 Considering how sensitive high-polymeric main valence chains with 

 glucoside or peptide bonds are to hydrolysis, it is out of the question 

 that the reagents used would merely have a dissolving effect; thev 

 surely cannot fail to induce break-down and decomposition. Cellulose 

 chains, for instance, are broken down by i n HCl (= 3.6%) at 53° C. 

 in six hours from 1660 to 445 degree of polymerization (Staudinger 

 and Sorkin, 1937a) and amylose chains are shortened in only 3^/, 

 minutes by 2 n HCl from 940 degree of polymerization to one-fifth 

 their length (Staudinger and Husemann, 1937). Nor is it surprising 

 that this hydrolytic degradation should take place mainly across the 

 particular texture (fibrous or spherite), since the hydrolysis occurs 

 perpendicularly to the alignment of the thread molecules. The par- 

 titioning parallel to the axis of orientation need not necessarily be of 

 a hydrolytic nature; it is as likely to take place in a less drastic, 

 physical way (radial cleavage, cracks due to drying, fibrillation through 



