Pectins properties

Cybercolloids Ltd. Introduction to pectins properties. http //www.cybercolloids.net/library/pectin/properties.php (accessed 26 May 2005). 

Pectin also contains araban and galactan. Il is present in fruits, root vegetables and other plant products, and confers on jams their typical gelling property. Pectin is manufactured as a white powder, soluble in water, and used to assist the setting of jams and jellies, and for numerous other purposes. Low melhoxyl pectins, with under 7% methoxyl, give firmer gels than pectins proper. 

A rationalization of the complex behavior of pectins in solutions and gels with respect to their stmcture, solvation, and the presence of ions and other saccharides has been presented (123). The solution and sorption properties of gum tragacanth and the pectin isolated from the roots of Hibiscus mani/)ot F (Tororoaoi) contributes to their use in specialty paper manufacture (124—126). 

Immobilization. The fixing property of PEIs has previously been discussed. Another appHcation of this property is enzyme immobilization (419). Enzymes can be bound by reactive compounds, eg, isothiocyanate (420) to the PEI skeleton, or immobilized on soHd supports, eg, cotton by adhesion with the aid of PEIs. In every case, fixing considerably simplifies the performance of enzyme-catalyzed reactions, thus faciHtating preparative work. This technique has been appHed to glutaraldehyde-sensitive enzymes (421), a-glucose transferase (422), and pectin lyase, pectin esterase, and endopolygalacturonase (423). 

Most of the pectin ia the cotton fiber is ia the primary wad. Removal of the pectic substances is accompHshed by scouting, which does not change the properties of the cotton greatiy. 

Pectin belongs to a family of plant polysaccharides in which the polymer backbone consists of (1— 4)-linked a-D-galacturonic acid repeating-units. Often, (1— 2)-linked a-L-rhamnose residues interrupt the regular polygalacturonate sequence. The high viscosity and gelling properties of pectins are exploited by the food and pharmaceutical industries. X-Ray studies on sodium pectate, calcium pectate, pectic acid, and pectinic acid (methyl ester of pectic acid) have disclosed their structural details. 

Masuelli, Martin Alberto. Viscometric study of pectin. Effect of temperature on the hydrodynamic properties.. International Journal of Biolovical Macromolecules 48 (2011) 286-291. 

Note The amino acid residues of lysine (K) and arginine (R) which may be responsible for the binding of POs to polysaccharides are in bold. According to Demand et al. (2002), the mutual substitution of these amino acids has no influence on the sorption properties of the ATg08770 PO of Arabidopsis with pectins, and the deletion of the fragment results in the loss of this function. 

This paper concerns the main properties of water soluble pectins in sol and gel states. First of all, the methods of purification and characterization are discussed. The method of steric exclusion chromatography equipped with different detectors is demonstrated as the most useful to determine the macromolecular characteristics of these polymers the role of aggregation is pointed out. 

The polyelectrolyte properties of pectins are breefly exposed specially the role of the carboxylic groups distribution along the chain is demonstrated to controll the electrostatic properties. The viscometric behaviour depends on the ionic concentration and on the nature of the counterions in relation with electrostatic repulsions. 

Then, the ionic selectivity is discussed and related to the mechanism of crosslinking with divalent counterions. The sol-gel transition is then examined for LM and HM pectins and the mechanisms described in these two cases. The physical properties of the gels are related to the microstructure of the polymers and few data are examined. 

Pectins is a general term for a group of natural polymers based on polymerized galacturonic acid partly esterified with methanol. In addition these polymers must be considered as copolymers due to existence of neutral sugar branched zones. [1]. Some uronic acid units may also be esterified on 0-2 or 0-3 position with acetic acid. The pectins occur in the cell wall of higher plants and control at least partly the mechanical properties, the ion exchange properties and the swelling of the cell walls. 

This paper will not described the chemical structure of pectins which is a difficult problem [1] even if the physical properties in solution and ability to form gel must be directly related with the distribution of the units along the chain. The functional properties of pectins are not only related to the neutral sugar content (up to 15 %) but also to the distribution of structural blocks having very different contibutions. 

Due to the presence of uronic acids, pectins are polyelectrolytes the electrostatic properties depend directly on the charge parameter (X) related to the average distance between 2 charged groups on the chain. The charge parameter is given by ... 

The HM and LM pectins give two very different types of gels the mechanisms of stabilization of the junction zones in the two cases are described and few characteristics given. The different molecular characteristics (DE, distribution of methoxyl or acetyl substituents, neutral sugar content or rhamnose content) play an important role on the kinetic of gelation, mechanical properties of the gel formed and also on the experimental conditions to form the stronger gels. All these points were briefly discussed. 

In case of copper some rheological experiments carried out at a given polymer concentration and increasing amoimt of cations indicates that copper/pectin systems in the one-phase domain behave as a viscoelastic liquid rather than a viscoelastic solid referred to as true gel (G (co) = G, when to—>0 with Gg the equilibrium shear modulus)[35]. Despite the lack of experimental data the range in cation and polymer concentration in which true gels may be observed seemed very limited. These results corroborate the strength of the binding of copper by pectins evidenced by the properties of the phase separation curves. 

BeMiller, J.N. (1986) An Introduction to Pectins Structure and Properties. In Chemistry and Function of Pectins, edited by M.L. Fishman, et al, pp. 2-12. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC. 

The possibility that the initial degree of methyl-esterification might be controlled by the properties of the methyltransferase enzymes was examined partial characterisation of these enzymes in suspension-cultured cells of fiax. Pectin methyltransferases beii enzymes characteristic of the Golgi apparatus [22], microsomes were fiactionated daily for ten days from suspension-cultured flax cells and incubated in the presence of C-SAM, the universal donor of methyl groups. 

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