TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Process: The nucleophilic base comprises a water-soluble metal hydroxide, optionally in combination with a metal carbonate or an organic hydroxide. The reaction conditions sufficient to produce a polysaccharide enriched biomass include a temperature of 20-110 degrees C and a reaction time of 4 hours to 30 days. The value of G2/X2 is within 10% of the value of G1/X1. The method further comprises isolating at least one portion of the polysaccharide enriched biomass solid fraction. The reaction conditions sufficient to produce an intermediate saccharification product include a temperature of 70-160 degrees C and a reaction time of 10-200 minutes. At least about 50% of the xylan in the solid fraction of the polysaccharide enriched biomass is hydrolyzed in the intermediate saccharification product. Preferred Components: The mineral acid is sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid, hydrochloric acid and/or nitric acid. The concentration of the mineral acid in the aqueous acid solution is 0.1-5 wt.%. The final saccharification product comprises at least 12 wt.% of sugars in 72 hours. The composition of the solid fraction of the polysaccharide enriched biomass, on a dry weight basis, is greater than 80% polysaccharide. The final saccharification product comprises at least one sugar monomer of glucose, arabinose, xylose, mannose and/or galactose. EXAMPLE - Corncob (1000 g) was suspended in 2% aqueous sodium hydroxide (4000 ml) and heated to 110 degrees C for 24 hours. The solution was filtered hot and the reaction mixture filtrates were set aside. The solids that were collected were washed with water until the pH was neutral and the filtrate was colorless. The solid was dried under laboratory vacuum for 48 hours. The solid (990 g) was suspended in water (2500 ml) and the pH of the suspension was adjusted from 8.65 to 5 by the addition of 20% aqueous citric acid. The mixture was filtered and the solid was dried for 24 hours to obtain a partially dried delignified corn cob (2011.9 g) having moisture content of 66%, and dry mass content of 681.2 g. The solid was resuspended in deionized water (4000 ml), the water was drained and the residue was dried under laboratory vacuum for 18 hours to give a partially dried corn cob (1832.3 g) having a moisture content of 67% and dry mass content of 598.3 g, where the glucan and xylan contents of the residue were 56.2% and 36.7%, respectively. The delignified cob (3 g) was placed in a microwavable vial (10 ml). Aqueous 5.5 wt.% sulfuric acid (0.75 ml) was added to the vials. Additionally, deionized water (2 ml) was added to the vials. The vials were heated to 140 degrees C in a microwave reactor. After microwave irradiation, the pH of the reaction vials was raised to 5 by the addition of aqueous 20 wt.% sodium hydroxide. The total volume of the liquid was adjusted with 50 mM sodium citrate buffer (1.5 ml, pH 5) and left at room temperature for overnight, which was followed by enzymatic saccharification by the addition of Spezyme CP (RTM: Cellulase) (100 mu l) and Novozyme 188 (RTM: Cellobiase) (100 mu l) to the reaction vial and incubating the vials at 50 degrees C. After 72 hours of saccharification, the obtained final saccharification product comprised 79.7 wt.% of glucose, 75.2 wt.% of xylose and 77.9 wt.% of total sugar.