A GC-MS study of the structure of gums in South African molasses

作者：Du Clou H^*; Walford S N

来源：International Sugar Journal, 2014, 116(1382): 105-112.

• GC-MS
• molasses
• gums
• structure
• polysaccharide
• viscosity

Sugar processing streams contain gums or polysaccharides (high molecular weight carbohydrates) that result from metabolic processes within the plant (metabolic) or due to microbial infection (microbial) during harvesting and handling. Examples include starch (metabolic), dextran (microbial), and indigenous sugarcane polysaccharide (ISP, metabolic). To understand how the different gums negatively affect processing streams and factory performance and how to limit these effects requires a detailed understanding of their molecular structure. Gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry together with in-house developed carbohydrate mass spectral libraries was used to determine the structures of gums isolated from final molasses (FM) samples. This structural study on gums isolated from South African FM reveals that, despite the relatively low quantity of gums present (<= 5.1%/DS) for the 2011/2012 sugar milling season, polysaccharides other than starch and dextran were present. It was determined that there was an ever present level of ISP-like polysaccharides containing galactose units with 1,3,6-linkages. The data showed that the quantity, type and molecular weight distributions of the different polysaccharides present can impact on FM viscosity. This research demonstrates a quantitative, structure-targeted approach to better understanding the type and impact of polysaccharides found in gums from sugar processing streams.

• 出版日期2014-2