Acid hydrolysis of fenugreek gum and its molecular weight determination using size exclusion chromatography

Fenugreek gum solutions were subjected to acid hydrolysis at different concentrations, time and temperatures. The resulting hydrolysed solutions were analysed for molecular weight determination using size exclusion chromatography. The molar mass for the acid hydrolysed fenugreek solutions (0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4%) were between 1 and 3 million Da hydrolysed at 50 °C, whereas when hydrolysed at 100 °C, the range is between 200 kDa and 1.8 million Da. At the early stage of hydrolysis, fenugreek gum solution subjected to higher hydrolysis temperature (100 °C) decreased rapidly in molecular size compared to hydrolysis at a lower temperature (50 °C). At both temperatures, the reduction rate of molecular weight was higher when using 0.4, 0.2 and 0.1M HCl respectively. Hydrolysed fenugreek gum could be a potential functional food ingredient compared to non-hydrolysed fenugreek gum which is highly viscous for food application