Cereal Chem 38:407 - 422.  |  VIEW ARTICLE

Organic Acids of Barley Grains.

J. S. Wall, L. C. Swango, D. Tessari, and R. J. Dimler. Copyright 1961 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

The identity and amounts of organic acids contained in whole barley grain and in barley grain fractions were investigated, since they may play significant roles in germination and seed metabolism. The relative efficiency of ion-exchange adsorption compared to ether extraction as a means of isolating the acids from alcoholic extracts of the grain was determined. An improved procedure of partition chromatography on silica gel was developed to separate and determine the acids. Paper chromatography was employed to identify individual acids and to make preliminary qualitative studies of the acids in the extract. Most of the organic acids in barley extracts were accounted for as malic, acetic, succinic, fumaric, malonic, alpha- ketoglutaric, lactic, citric, aconitic, and pyrrolidone carboxylic. The reported presence was confirmed of a number of phenolic acids contained in barley, including ferulic, vanillic, p-hydroxybenzoic, and p- coumaric.