Structure and physicochemical properties of barley non-starch polysaccharides — I. Water-extractable β-glucans and arabinoxylans

Water-soluble non-starch polysaccharides were extracted from a Canadian malting barley (cv. Harrington) by sequential treatment with water at 40 °C (WE40) and 65 °C (WE65). The yields were 1.4 and 1.3% (w/w), respectively, of the dry barley grist. The WE40 extract was composed of 82.5% glucose, 8.9% xylose, and 7.0% arabiose residues, whereas WE65 contained 93.3% Glc, 3.3% Xyl, and 2.5% Ara. Only minute amounts of mannose and galactose residues were found in either fraction. Both extracts were further fractionated by stepwise (NH₄)₂SO₄ precipitation into several polysaccharide populations. Subfractions from both extracts, obtained up to 45% saturation with (NH₄)₂SO₄, contained mostly β-glucans, whereas subfractions precipitated at increasing saturation levels of (NH₄)₂SO₄ (45–100%) contained progressively more arabinoxylans and less β-glucans. Compared to WE40, the WE65 extract was enriched in β-glucan populations with higher molecular size, higher limiting viscosity values, and higher content of β-(1 → 4) linkages. The ratio of tri-/ tetrasaccharide oligomers was also higher in β-glucans extracted at 65 °C than those extracted at 40 °C. Arabinoxylans in both extracts, WE40 and WE65, were highly substituted and contained large proportions of doubly substituted xylose residues.