Abstract

The cell wall composition of Japanese plums (Prunus salicina) at six developmental stages was previously evaluated (Ponce et al., J. Agric. Food Chem. 2010, 58, 2562–2570). This fruit is an interesting source of pectins, polysaccharides of valuable functionality for pharmaceutical and food formulations. In the present work it was investigated how the different conditions for the aqueous extraction of pectins from Japanese plums affect the yield as well as their chemical and rheological characteristics. It has been determined that extraction with water at room temperature for periods longer than 2h did not produce additional increment of yield (12%) but decreased the average molecular weights of the extracted pectins. Pectins with a degree of methylation ≈40% with high viscosity in water and with adequate molecular weights (≈72,000) were obtained. Conversely, utilization of boiling water for extraction increased considerably the yields (33–38%) but the extracted pectins showed significant lower viscosity in water in spite of their higher molecular weights. The poorer thickening ability was associated to the lower proportion of arabinose residues present in the hairy regions of the pectin macromolecules extracted by hot water, which led the polymers to interact more transiently in a 2% w/v water solution.

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.