Chem. [f. L. trītic-um wheat (in mod.Bot.L. a generic name, including couch-grass) + -IN1.]
† 1. Name given to the gluten of wheat by Hermbstaedt (Erdmann’s Jrnl. Techn. Chem. (1831), XII. 11); also applied to a substance obtained from potato starch (see quot. 1838). Obs.
1838. T. Thomson, Chem. Org. Bodies, 652. [In preparing amidin, or the soluble part of starch from potato starch] The triticin is retained by the cloth.
1860. Mayne, Expos. L., Triticin, term by Hermbstædt for the gluten of wheat.
2. A carbohydrate, C12H22O11 or (C6H10O5)11, obtained from the roots of couch-grass, Triticum repens, and so named by Müller (Arch. Pharm. [1873], II. 508); it is a tasteless hygroscopic powder, very soluble in water, and lævorotatory; when boiled with dilute acids it changes into lævulose.
1874. Jrnl. Chem. Soc., XXVII. 171. The quantity of triticin present in the dried roots of couch-grass varies from 3·5 to 7·8 per cent. Ibid. (1888), LIV. 246. From Dracaena australis the author has obtained a carbohydrate, 6 C6H10O5 + H2O, which very closely resembles triticin. Ibid. (1890), LVIII. 227. Triticin … from the root of Dracaena rubra, melts at 140°…. Triticin, from Triticum repens, melts at 160°.
