A diastase (; from Greek  διαστασις, "separation") is any one of a group of  enzymes which catalyses the breakdown of starch  into maltose. Alpha amylase degrades starch to a mixture of the disaccharide maltose, the trisaccharide maltotriose, which contains three α (1-4)-linked glucose residues, and oligosaccharides known as dextrins that contain the α (1-6)-linked glucose branches. Diastase was the first enzyme discovered. It was extracted from malt solution in 1833 by  Anselme Payen and Jean-François Persoz, chemists at a French sugar factory. The name "diastase" comes from the Greek word διάστασις (diastasis) (a parting, a separation) because when beer mash is heated, the enzyme causes the starch in the barley seed to transform quickly into soluble sugars and hence the husk to separate from the rest of the seed. Today, diastase means any α-, β-, or γ-amylase (all of them hydrolases) that can break down  carbohydrates.