Conversion of guar gum to gel-forming polysaccharides by the action of alpha -galactosidase

摘要

Water-soluble polysaccharide guar gum, guaran, is altered to convert its properties from those of producing a highly viscous stable dispersion to enable production of a sequence of products that may be separately produced through the selective removal of D-galactopyranosyl side units so as to produce different lengths of molecular segments containing no derivatizing alpha -D-galactopyranosyl groups. The structure therefore yields a high viscosity polysaccharide with the ability to form gels of various strengths ranging from very weak gels to strong gels by appropriate selection of the extent to which the alpha -D-galactopyranosyl groups are removed.