114. Quantitative aspects of the acid reversion of glucose

The products formed when glucose is heated in aqueous sulphuric acid, with or without pretreatment with formic acid, have been separated and estimated. The major products are 1:6-anhydro-β-D-gluco-pyranose and -furanose, while the remainder consists of the group of glucose disaccharides, in which isomaltose and gentiobiose predominate. The amounts of sugars so formed provide a guide to the quantities of reversion products likely to be encountered as artefacts in the examination of the structures of polyglucoses by the method of partial acidic hydrolysis.