Abstract
Although « vast amount of research haa been;
done In the field of carbohydrate chemistry,
comparatively little attention has been given to the
group of substances which may bo classified under
the heading of acid polysaccharides. In this group
we find such substances as occtins, plant gums,
hemioelluloees, mucilages, soluble spoolflc substances
produced by bacteria, and alginic acid from algae.
Moat of these substances appear to be formed by the
modification of cellulose under the influence of
enzymes, few, if any of them, being produced directly
by photosynthesis. Acid 'polysaccharides apparently
play a very important, though poorly understood,
role in natural orocesses.
In this tlx©ale the structure of the mucilage from
rib grass seed, Plantago lanceolate, is investigated.
The study falls into two main sections, the first
dealing with the products obtained from the free
acid mucilage Itself and the second with the products
obtained from the ftally methylated mucilage. It Is
interesting to note that the British Pharmaceutical
Codex (1) asserts that Plantago lanceolate seed gives
no mucilage with water. In praotlce, however* aa
will be shown later, a 4-5% yield of mucilage can be
obtained. How a great deal of confusion arose at
one time regarding the exact species of the various
Plantago seeds on the market. Plantain seeds are
really of Indian origin and in the literature references
oan be found pointing to the occurrence of several
speoies in native Indien commerce. They are sold
in the bazaars under native names and on© of the best
known of these is "Bnrtung" or "Barhang". Considerable
disagreement has existed as to the origin of this
drug, and although Irvine attributed it to Plantago
lanceolate (2) research showed that the parent
species was Plantago major (3). Another substance
which
finds extensive use In pharmacy in the East
is "Ispaghula", which consists of the dried, ripe
seeds of Plantago ovata, a herbaceous annual
Indigenous to India end Persia, Psyllium seeds were
also regarded as the seeds of Plant a go Psyllium but
commercial samples are sometimes composed entirely
or partly of seeds of Plantago arenarla or Plimtago
lanceolata, Reoent research, published in the
quarterly Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology gives
a quick method of differentiating between the various
species of plantain seed (4). It is based on the
weights and dimensions of the eeeds and forms quite
a good method of oheoklng up on the seeds under
observation.
