Abstract
The hydrolysis of lichenin by a malted-barley preparation yielded a complex mixture of oligosaccharides. In the presence of 10mM-glucono-(1[forward arrow]4)-lactone, which inhibits cellobiase and [beta]-(1[forward arrow]4)-glucosanase activities, the products were a trisaccharide, laminaribiose, and glucose. The hydrolysis of lechenin by a Rhizopus arrhizus preparation also gave laminaribiose and the same trisaccharide. The trisaccharide has been characterized as O-[beta]-D-glucopyranosyl- (1[forward arrow]4)-O--D-glucopyranosyl-(1[forward arrow]3)-D-glucose, and related to the sequence of linkages in lichenin.