Selective isolation of β-glucan from corn pericarp hemicelluloses by affinity chromatography on cellulose column

A combination of anion-exchange chromatography and affinity chromatography on a cellulose column was found to be effective for the isolation of β-(1,3;1,4)-glucan (BG) from corn pericarp hemicelluloses (CPHs). CPHs containing 6.6% BG were extracted from corn pericarp with 6 M urea–2 wt% NaOH solution and initially fractionated into neutral and acidic parts by anion exchange chromatography to remove acidic arabinoxylan consisting of arabinose (35.6%) and xylose (50.9%). The neutral fraction (yield; 10.1% on the basis of CPHs) consisting of 1.0% arabinose, 10.1% xylose and 80.3% glucose containing 28.4% BG was then applied to a cellulose column of Whatman CF-11. BG could be recovered from the adsorbed fraction on the cellulose column by elution with 2% NaOH in a yield of 2.6% on the basis of CPHs with a purity of 84.7%. The chemical structure of the isolated corn pericarp BG was confirmed by 13C NMR spectroscopic, methylation and lichenase treatment analyses. The results indicate that the ratios of (1,4)/(1,3) linkage and cellotriosyl/cellotetraosyl segments of the BG were 2.60 and 2.5, respectively.