Cereal Chem 40:459 - 465.  |  VIEW ARTICLE

The Sugars of Germinating Corn (Zea mays).

A. B. Bond and R. L. Glass. Copyright 1963 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Raffinose, sucrose, glucose, fructose, myo-inositol, and glycerol were identified as being present in sound corn by isolation of the pure compounds and the preparation of crystalline derivatives. Maltose was found to appear after 48 hr. of germination. The corn (43% moisture) was germinated at 16 C. for 12 days, The fate of the various sugars was determined by analyses at 48-hr. intervals. The glucose content remained essentially constant for 48 hr. and then increased rapidly. Sucrose showed a small but definite decrease for the first 2 days of germination and then increased rapidly. These two sugars comprised the largest part of the sugars studied. Fructose remained low and essentially constant. Maltose, which did not appear until the third day of germination, increased slowly thereafter. Alpha-amylase did not appear until the sixth day, a time which coincided with the rapid increase in reducing sugars, and beta-amylase was not detected during the test period.