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In Situ De‐esterification of lime pectin
Author(s) -
King Karen,
Mitchell John R.,
Norton Grenville,
Caygill John
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
journal of the science of food and agriculture
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1097-0010
pISSN - 0022-5142
DOI - 10.1002/jsfa.2740370410
Subject(s) - pectin , lime , chemistry , pectinesterase , pulp (tooth) , in situ , food science , ionic strength , chromatography , enzyme , biochemistry , pectinase , organic chemistry , materials science , aqueous solution , metallurgy , medicine , pathology
The in situ de‐esterification of pectin in lime pulp by the action of pectinesterase (PE) has been investigated. It has been shown that the degree of pectin esterification is reduced to about 20% when the pulp is held at pH 8.5 for 90 min. The rate of de‐esterification by the enzyme in situ is highest when the pH is in the range 7.5–9.0 and the NaCl concentration is 0.1–0.3M. At pH values above 9 chemical de‐esterification becomes important. The activity of extracted lime PE was shown to be almost independent of pH in the range pH 6.0–9.0. It is suggested that the difference between the behaviour of the extracted and the in situ enzyme is due to the fact that the latter needs to be solubilised before it can act on some of the pectin in the pulp. In support of this it is found that the proportion of lime PE which can be extracted from the pulp decreases with decreasing pH and ionic strength, reflecting electrostatic binding to the cell wall.