Polysaccharides synthesized by micro-organisms

LUTEIC acid, a highly mucilaginous polysaccharide, is a metabolic product of Penicillium luteum Zukal when this mould is grown on liquid Czapek-Dox medium with any one of the following compounds as the sole source of carbon: glucose [Raistrick & Rintoul, 1931], fructose, galactose, mannose, xylose, arabinose and glycerol Raistrick & Rintoul [1931] showed that on acid hydrolysis luteic acid yielded malonic acid (1 mol) and glucose (2 mols) and that it was probably a malonyl ester of a polyglucose. Mild alkaline hydrolysis of luteic acid eliminated the malonyl groups as malonic acid and produced a neutral polysaccharide which, when hydrolysed, yielded glucose alone, and to which the name "luteose" was given. In the present paper an investigation of the molecular structure of luteose is recorded.