Studies on the Carbohydrates of Black Tea

The carbohydrates in black tea were divided into fourteen fractions. Free sugars and the component sugars of each fraction have been investigated mainly by the method of paper chromatography and the following results were obtained (see Table 2).Fructose, glucose and arabinose were detected as free monosaccharides, and sucrose, maltose, raffino-e and stachyose as free oligosaccharides.Inositol.and two kinds of unknown substances as free sugaralchols were also detected.Rhamnose, glucose, galactose, fructose, xylose and galacturonic acid were detected as the components of glycosides.Arabinose, galactose, galacturonic acid, rhamnose and glucose were detected as the components of hot 50% ethanol-soluble polysaccharides.Galactose, galacturonic acid, arabinose, rhamnose, ribose (?), de_oxyribose (?) and glucuronic acid were detected as the components of cold water-soluble polysaccharides, and besides this arabinose, galactose, galacturonic acid, desoxyribose, ribose, glucuronic acid, rhamnose and mannuronic acid as the components of hot water-soluble polysaccharides.Arabinose, galactose, galacturonic acid and small amounts of glucuronic acid and mannuronic acid were detected as the components of hot 0.5%, ammonium oxalate-soluble polysaccharides.Xylose, mannose, glucose, ribose, desoxy ribose, galactose and mannuronic acid as the components of hemicellulose, galactose, rhamnose, desoxyribose, xylose and ribose as the β-cellulose, xylose, galactose and rhamnose as the y-cellulose components were detected.a-Cellulose and a small amount of lignin were also detected.