A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method is applied for the determination of galacturonic acid (GA) of pectins in different commercial fruit juices. The separation was carried out on a C18 column using precolumn derivatization with p-aminobenzoic acid (p-ABA) and UV detection at 304 nm. The identification of GA was confirmed by high-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS/MS) in positive ion mode. The concentration of GA in the samples analyzed ranged from 12.9 ± 0.5 to 49.4 ± 0.5 mgGA L−1. Amongst the samples analyzed, mango juice was found to be richest in GA content, and therefore a good source of pectins. Detection and quantification limits of the described methodology were 1.2 and 3.9 mg L−1, respectively. Quantitative GA recoveries in the beverages had a range between 90 and 98%. The results showed that the HPLC method proposed was precise and suitable for the identification and quantification of GA in commercial fruit juices.
The raise in production of fruit products, such as marmalade, low-caloric foods, juice, frozen foods, jellies and jams, has led to the generation of large volume of fruit wastes as a by-product. These agro-industrial wastes cause serious environmental pollution, and hence, there is an urgent need for their recycling and appropriate utilization via extraction and production of biologically and chemically functional ingredients (i.e. pectin). This review work demonstrates the importance of pectin molecule, its chemical compositions and general biochemical properties, its gelation techniques or mechanisms and its applications as functional and value-added ingredients in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and food processing industries. Normally, pectin exists in the cell wall of plant cell or fruit cell possessing biopolymer or polysaccharide structures. This by-product has received increasing recognition in modern processing industries and can also be obtained from fruit wastes preponderantly through extraction process. Several factors, such as Degree of esterification, Molecular size, Temperature, Presence of other solutes (i.e. sugar), Charge density on the molecule, and pH values strongly affect the nature of gel formation entire the pectin molecule. Therefore, suitable and effective extraction mechanisms have to be employed to produce this valuable product (i.e. pectin) from locally available fruit wastes.
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