Sodium Hydroxide → Pentitol

Participants

Reaction Steps

Fermentation of glucose to arabinitol is performed by using a culture medium of 10% (w/v) glucose, 0.5% (w/v) yeast extract and 0.1% (w/v) urea. The medium is inoculated with a yeast strain of the genus Endomycopsis chodati. After 72 hours fermentation time 56% arabinitol was obtained without considerable amounts of glycerol (below 4%). After demineralisation and refining the arabinitol syrup is directly used for polyol isomerisation in the presence of Raney-nickel (5% catalyst slurry on total dry substance). The pH is increased to 11, by the addition of 0.5 M NaOH. A hydrogen pressure of 4 MPa is applied at a temperature of 170° C. and the isomerisation reaction is stopped after 4 hours, resulting in a pentitol mixture of the following composition: arabinitol (90%), xylitol (6%), ribitol (4%).

Provenance & Evidence