Isolation of Methoxy- and 2 : 6-Dimethoxy-p-benzoquinone from Fermented Wheat Germ

Abstract

THE addition of wheat germ to flour lowers its baking quality, as is at once obvious from the smaller volume of the loaf. Hullett¹ and Hullett and Stern² found that if the wheat germ is first fermented sufficiently with yeast, there is no fall in bread quality, and this coincides with the disappearance of the glutathione. Vuataz³ has shown that the latter is due to combination of the glutathione with one of the fermentation products, which he isolated as a yellow crystalline compound, melting point 141–143° (decomp.) (I), and which he suggested was the unknown furfuryl glyoxal, C₄H₃O.CH₂.CO.CHO. During the isolation of this compound, a small amount of another substance, melting point 244–245° (decomp.) (II), was obtained. This did not react, however, with glutathione.