Acid Hydrolysis of Pectin and Mucilage from Cactus (<i>Opuntia ficus</i>) for Identification and Quantification of Monosaccharides
Vanessa Garfias Silva,
María Soledad Cordova Aguilar,
Gabriel Ascanio,
Juan Pablo Aguayo,
Karen Y. Pérez-Salas,
Ana del Carmen Susunaga Notario
Affiliations
Vanessa Garfias Silva
Facultad de Química, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Exterior S/N, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacan, Mexico City 04510, Mexico
María Soledad Cordova Aguilar
Instituto de Ciencias Aplicadas y Tecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Exterior S/N, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacan, Mexico City 04510, Mexico
Gabriel Ascanio
Instituto de Ciencias Aplicadas y Tecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Exterior S/N, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacan, Mexico City 04510, Mexico
Juan Pablo Aguayo
Instituto de Ciencias Aplicadas y Tecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Exterior S/N, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacan, Mexico City 04510, Mexico
Karen Y. Pérez-Salas
Programa de Maestría y Doctorado en Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Exterior, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacan, Mexico City 04510, Mexico
Ana del Carmen Susunaga Notario
Cátedra CONACyT-Instituto de Ciencias Aplicadas y Tecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Exterior S/N, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacan, Mexico City 04510, Mexico
Pectin and mucilage are polysaccharides from the cactus Opuntia ficus-indica, which are also known as hydrocolloids, with useful properties in industries such as food, pharmaceuticals, and construction, among others. In the present work, cactus hydrocolloids were hydrolyzed characterized using two techniques: first, thin-layer chromatography, to identify the monosaccharides present in the sample, followed by the phenol–sulfuric acid method to determine the monosaccharide content. The hydrolyzing method allowed us to reduce the processing time to 180 min and, considering the identification and quantification procedures, the proposed methodology is much simpler and more cost-effective compared to other methods, such as high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and mass spectrometry. The analysis of the results revealed that the maximum concentration of monosaccharides was obtained after hydrolyzing for 90 min. Under such conditions, with pectin being the main component contained in the cactus hydrocolloids analyzed here, galacturonic acid was found in the largest quantities.