Oxidative cross-linking of chemically and enzymatically modified sugar-beet pectin

Hot acid-soluble pectins from sugar-beet pulp which do not gel in the presence of persulfate were submitted to hydrolysis with acid under different conditions of concentration, temperature and time, or with different combinations of enzymes. All the modified pectins have been chemically characterised and tested for their gelling capacity with persulfate ions. They varied primarily in the structure of the side-chains and only those obtained from cold acid hydrolysis and from degradation by arabino-furanosidase were able to gel. Accessibility of the feruloyl groups carried by the arabinose side-chains appeared essential for the gelling of beet pectins with persulfate.