Premium
An investigation of pectin and pectic acid in dilute aqueous solution
Author(s) -
Jordan Robert C.,
Brant David A.
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
biopolymers
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.556
H-Index - 125
eISSN - 1097-0282
pISSN - 0006-3525
DOI - 10.1002/bip.1978.360171210
Subject(s) - pectin , chemistry , aqueous solution , chromatography , gel permeation chromatography , polymer , molecule , size exclusion chromatography , dispersion (optics) , polymerization , scattering , analytical chemistry (journal) , organic chemistry , biochemistry , physics , optics , enzyme
Light‐scattering measurements have been carried out on carefully clarified aqueous solutions of pectin and pectic acid. The strong dependence of the inverse excess scattering intensity on angle yields pectin chain dimensions that are inconsistent with the complete molecular dispersion of pectin molecules possessing the degrees of polymerization indicated by the measured osmotic molecular weights. Negligible or negative concertration dependences of the inverse scattering intensities coupled with the centrifugation, filtration, and gel permeation chromatography behavior of the samples likewise suggest nonequilibrium aggregation of the pectin molecules in solution. It is shown that the measured mean polymer chain dimensions can be rationalized in terms of the presence of a very small proportion of aggregated material.