POLYSACCHARIDE COMPONENTS OF THE WATER-SOLUBLE MUCILAGE FROM THE BARKOF THE SILK COTTON OR KAPOK TREE (CEIBA-PENTANDRA VAR INDICA)

The mucilaginous polysaccharide complex isolated from the bark of the silk cotton or kapok tree (Ceiba pentondra var. indica) upon delignifi cation followed by graded Cetavlon and ethanol precipitation afforded acidic and neutral polysaccharide fractions which were further purifie d by ion-exchange chromatography. The acidic fractions contained two s tructurally similar glucuronorhamnogalacturonans with different physic al properties [Raju, Gowda and Anjaneyalu (1989) Carbohydr. Res. 191, 321-332], The neutral polysaccharide fraction was further fractionated by DMSO into DMSO-soluble and DMSO-insoluble fractions. The DMSO-solu ble fraction contained L-arabinose and D-galactose in a molar ratio of about 2:1, and the DMSO-insoluble fraction contained D-glucose and tr aces of D-xylose, indicating that the water-soluble mucilage of C. pen tondra is composed of at feast four different polysaccharide component s: two structurally similar glucuronorhamnogalacturonans, an arabinoga lactan and a xyloglucan.