Propriedades físico-químicas de hemiceluloses vegetais

Abstract

In this work six galactomannans (Adenanthera pavonina, Caesalpinia pulcherrima, Delonix regia, Dimorphera mollis, Prosopis glandulosa, Schizolobium parahyba) and three xyloglucans (Hymenaea courbaril, Mucuna sloanei e Tamarindus indica) were isolated from seed endosperm and cotyledon, respectively, by aqueous extraction followed by precipitation with ethanol. Yield of extraction, monosaccharide ratio, macromolecular parameters as well as molar mass distribution were determined and compared to guar gum (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba), LBG (Ceratonia siliqua) and xanthan (Xanthomonas campestris). Extraction yield in relation to seed mass ranged from 7.0 to 40.63%, with xyloglucan yields higher than the galactomannans ones. Schizolobium parahyba and Caesalpinia pulcherrima galactomannans presented the lowest protein content of 0.05% e 0.08%, respectively. The Mw values ranged from 0.09 – 3.37 x107 g mol-1 Flow curves of hemicelluloses solutions at 1% (w:v) were measured by varying the shear rate from 0.1 to 100 s-1. The resulting data were fit to the Power law e Herschel-Bulkley models. All the hemicelluloses presented shear-thinning behavior. Galactomannan and xyloglucans with different monosaccharide ratio showed similar consistency index; it may be influenced of the galactose distribution pattern on the chains and the interactions among the polysaccharides molecules. Rheological properties were compared and the results suggest new hemicelluloses sources which offer more profound applications in areas such as materials science, medicine e biology.