The phosphorus compounds of wheat starch

Abstract

Peptization of wheat starch in chloral hydrate soln. followed by precipitation with acetone yielded an acetone soln. containing 50-60% of the P in the original starch. From this soln. a fraction was separated, woluble in ether and chloroform, in which the N/P ratio was nearly 1/1 and 95% of the N was present as choline. Part of the "adventitious P" present in the starch was also found in this fraction. Lecithin was isolated from this material. The phosphatide content of the wheat starch was approx. 1%. 30% of the P remained associated with the carbohydrate, while 10% was acid-soluble. Hexose-phosphate and nucleotide were not present, while there was no conclusive evidence for phytic acid.