Supplementary Chapter 327 



distillation in steam. These consist of acetic and formic and 

 another acid of reducing character (beech). With jute the pro- 

 portion of formic acid is 30-50 p.ct. of the total volatile acid. 



(5) The non- volatile acid liquid has three to five times the 

 acid value of the volatile acids. It contains reducing substances 

 of an aldehydic or ketonic character. Oxalic acid is present 

 only in minute quantity ; phenols are absent. 



(6) Some 40 p.ct. of the wood is oxidised or rendered 

 soluble in water. 



(7) The solid product has a high furfuraldehyde content, 

 but contains only a small proportion of methoxyl. 



The schematic formula which embodies the known re- 

 actions of lignocellulose given by Cross and Bevan (' Re- 

 searches,' iii. p. 104) formulates the lignone group as (a) a 

 keto-R-hexene group joined by CH 2 .CO residues to (b) a 

 pyrone ring containing two methoxyl groups, this ring being 

 connected through a chain of carbon atoms to the ft- and u- 

 cellulose, thus : 



CO O 



--- CH CH-CH .OH - , - . 



HG\ JCO MeO-HC v jCH-OMe \/ OH *- a- 



TH TO cellu- cellu 



Cr 2 CO lose. lose. 



The ozone molecule attaches itself, in the absence of water, 

 to unsaturated linkings forming ozonides ; in the presence of 

 water these ozonides are decomposed at the moment of for- 

 mation, yielding aldehydes or acids. With the 

 group (a) the result would probably be : 



O 

 > C0 3 H - 



This would account for the rapid initial development of 

 acidic substances, the ozone being entirely absorbed at the 



