FRACTIONATION OF PECTINS FROM SUNFLOWERS, SUGAR BEETS, APPLES, AND CITRUS FRUITS

Abstract

Pectins from sunflower heads, sugar beet, apple, and citrus fruits were separated into acid-insoluble pectic acids and acid-soluble polysaccharides. The acid-soluble polysaccharides were shown by moving-boundary electrophoresis to be complex mixtures of four or five polysaccharides. The pectic acids were fractionated by precipitation with sodium acetate from aqueous solution. The fractions were examined for galacturonic acid content, specific rotation, limiting viscosity number, behavior on moving-boundary electrophoresis, and presence of neutral sugars. The results showed that each of the pectic acids contained two acidic components, one a galacturonan free of neutral sugars, the other a galacturonan to which neutral sugars were attached, probably as side chains.