Molecular weight, solubility and viscosity of β-Glucan preparations from barley pearling byproducts

• Main Authors: Lee, Young-Tack, Puligundla, Pradeep, Schwarz, Paul B.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2017
• Online Access: http://journalarticle.ukm.my/11058/1/05%20Young-Tack%20Lee.pdf; http://journalarticle.ukm.my/11058/; http://www.ukm.my/jsm/english_journals/vol46num5_2017/contentsVol46num5_2017.html
• Institution: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

β-Glucan, the representative dietary fibre component of barley, has received much attention, primarily due to its nutritional significance. In this study, β-glucans prepared from barley pearling byproducts were characterized with respect to their molecular weight, solubility and viscosity. Following the initial alkaline extraction, the crude β-glucan extract (45% purity) was further purified to approximately 90%. The isolated β-glucans exhibited a wide molecular weight range with peak molecular weight of less than 1 × 106 daltons. Solubilities of crude and purified β-glucans in water were lower than that of β-glucan in the native barley pearling byproducts. However, the aqueous solubility of purified β-glucan from pearlings was substantially higher than that of commercial β-glucan. Compared to the latter, purified β-glucan exhibited low apparent viscosity in aqueous solutions.