Abstract:

A polysaccharide fraction, PBPL, purified from Plantago asiatica L. bran was characterized for physico-chemical
properties. It was extracted with hot water and purified by SephacrylTMS-400 HR chromatographic column. The relative
average molecular weight determined by high performance gel permeation chromatography (HPGPC) was 619 651 D. The
results showed that PBPL contained (71.420 ± 0.007)% of total sugar, (6.07 ± 0.02)% of protein and (20.74 ± 0.05)%
of uronic acid by a colorimetric method. Rhamnose, arabinose, mannose, glucose and galactose were found to be the
compositional monosaccharides at a molar ratio of 2.24:1.87:1.00:3.24:3.49 in PBPL using gas chromatography (GC). After
reduction, galacturonic acid was confirmed to be the major component of uronic acid. As shown by infrared spectral (IR)
analysis, PBPL had characteristic absorption peaks of polysaccharide, protein and uronic acid and β-pyranose ring.

Key words: Plantago asiatica L. bran, polysaccharide, physico-chemical properties