Fructosan in the timothy haplocorm

A fructosan fraction which made up 63% of the water-soluble carbohydrates of the timothy haplocorm was shown to be composed of a series of polyfructoses with different chain lengths. An 80% ethanol extract from fresh timothy haplocorm contained long-chain fructosan in addition to short-chain fructosan, sucrose, glucose, and fructose. Most of the long-chain fructosan was found in the water extract from residue obtained after the 80% ethanol extraction. This fructosan fraction was extracted directly with water and separated from other botanical components by gel filtration. The compound was readily hydrolyzed in a 0.01 N HCl solution producing fructose accompanied with small amounts of sucrose and glucose. The molecular weight of fructosan as estimated by a gel filtration using a G-75 Sephadex column was 12 700–14 300, being equivalent to 78–88 degrees of polymerization (D.P.). The infrared spectrophotometric measurements of fructosan showed absorbances at 933, 905, 872, 844, and 813 cm−1 for the phlein type obtained from the timothy haplocorm, while the inulin-type fructosan from chicory showed characteristic bands at 933, 872, and 813 cm−1.