Title

Detection of Inulin, a Prebiotic Polysaccharide, in Maple Syrup

Authors

Jiadong Sun, University of Rhode Island
Hang Ma, University of Rhode Island
Navindra P. Seeram, University of Rhode IslandFollow
David C. Rowley, University of Rhode IslandFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of Original Version

2016

Department

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

Abstract

Maple syrup is a widely consumed plant-derived natural sweetener produced by concentrating xylem sap collected from certain maple (Acer) species. During thermal evaporation of water, natural phytochemical components are concentrated in maple syrup. The polymeric components from maple syrup were isolated by ethanol precipitation, dialysis, and anion exchange chromatography and structurally characterized by glycosyl composition analysis, glycosyl linkage analysis, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Among the maple syrup polysaccharides, one neutral polysaccharide was characterized as inulin with a broad molecular weight distribution, representing the first isolation of this prebiotic carbohydrate from a xylem sap. In addition, two acidic polysaccharides with structural similarity were identified as arabinogalactans derived from rhamnogalacturonan type I pectic polysaccharides.

Citation/Publisher Attribution

Sun, J., Ma, H., Seeram, N. P., & Rowley, D. C. (2016). Detection of Inulin, a Prebiotic Polysaccharide, in Maple Syrup. J. Agroc. Food Chem., 64(38), 7142-7147. doi: 10.1021/acs.jafc.6b03139

Available at: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jafc.6b03139