Analysis of polysaccharides and monosaccharides in the root mucilage of maize (Zea mays L.) by gas chromatography

Root mucilage of maize (Zea mays L.) was purified using Sephadex size-exclu sion chromatography to allow subsequent analysis of the polysaccharides der ived from this mucilage. Hydrolysis of the polysaccharides to their constit uent monosaccharides and conversion of these monomers to volatile peracetat e derivatives allowed analysis of these derivatives using gas chromatograph y. This permitted identification and broad quantification of the major comp onents of the polysaccharides. Two methods have been developed: (1) a two-s tep hydrolysis/acetylation procedure and (2) a one-step acetolysis. Gas chr omatograms obtained using the latter procedure are far simpler due to the f ormation of predominantly one anomer for each monomer component. In both ca ses, the major monosaccharide components of the polysaccharides were identi fied as fucose, arabinose, galactose and glucose. Analysis of the crude mai ze mucilage demonstrated that monosaccharides co-exist with polysaccharides . The monosaccharides were again converted to their peracetates and gas chr omatography identified the major monosaccharide component as glucose. (C) 1 999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.