156 THE CARBOHYDRATES 



groups. Lignocellulose, as exemplified by jute fibre, is con- 

 sidered by these authors to be an ester-like compound of 20 

 per cent lignone (which yields no furfural) with 80 per cent 

 cellulose consisting of 65 per cent of a resistant o-cellulose and 

 15 per cent of a less resistant furfural yielding /3-cellulose, 

 which also contains OCH 3 groups, as represented below : 



CO O O r Cellulose a (65 / ). 



/\ /\ /\ 



CH CH . [CH 2 CO] 2 . HC CH . CH CH . CH (OH) 2 



CH CO CH 9 OHC 



\ 



CO I Cellulose (15 / ) 



Lignone, 20 / . Cellulose, 80 / . 



This formula receives support from the work of Doree and 

 Cunningham,* who find that ozonized oxygen acting on beech 

 wood in the presence of water produces acid substances pre- 

 sumably by attacking the double bond of the lignone complex, 

 and producing two carboxyl groups ; the pyrone ring contain- 

 ing the methoxyl groups is broken up yielding lower acids, 

 amongst them acetic acid, probably produced from the CH 2 CO 

 groups connecting the pyrone ring to the aromatic nucleus. 



The lignocellulose type, according to Cross and Bevan 

 (Lectures delivered before the Royal Society of Arts, Feb.- 

 March, 1920), is not confined to jute and woody fibre, since 

 the proportion of lignone complex in esparto grass is relatively 

 high, but it is here not associated with the cellulose fibre. 

 Esparto may be described as a structure of cellulose fibres em- 

 bedded in a readily hydrolysable ligno-pentosan or ester-like 

 compound of lignone with pentose. 



It may here be remarked that although the best quality 

 paper is manufactured from cellulose freed as completely as pos- 

 sible from non-cellulose constituents by the method described 

 below, lignocelluloses are used as such for the preparation 

 of inferior qualities of paper, without previous treatment for 

 the removal of the lignin. Papers prepared from this mechani- 

 cal wood pulp (see p. 161) when dipped in a i per cent, alcohol 

 solution of phloroglucinol and touched with a drop of diluted 



* Doree and Cunningham : " J. Chem. Soc,," 1913, 103, 677. 



