A copolymer analysis approach to estimate the neutral sugar distribution of sugar beet pectin using size exclusion chromatography

Partially degraded sugar beet (Beta vulgaris) pectins were characterised in terms of galacturonic acid, neutral sugar and ferulic acids contents. It was shown that the total neutral sugar content is correlated with the ferulic acid content. One pectin (C) was further characterised by size exclusion chromatography coupled to refractive index and UV detectors (SEC-RI-UV). This gave the opportunity to estimate how the ferulic acid and neutral sugar contents changed with hydrodynamic radius. Pectin C was found to be heterogeneous in composition with neutral sugar-rich fractions of both high and low hydrodynamic radii. A neutral sugar-poor fraction was found at intermediate hydrodynamic radii.