Abstract:

Single factor and orthogonal array design experiments were conducted for optimization of hot water extraction of β-glucan from oat bran. Results showed that an optimum β-glucan yield of 17.30 mg/g was achieved under the following conditions: extraction for 4 h using 80 ℃ water at pH 11 with a ratio of liquid to material of 25:1 (ml/g); β-glucan yield was significantly influenced by ratio of liquid to material, followed in turn by extraction temperature, pH and time. In the following, β-glucan with a purity of 75.30% was obtained by purification and characterized by high performance gel permeation chromatography (GPC). GPC analysis revealed that the average molecular weight and molecular radius of β-glucan were 9.697 × 105 and 83.8 nm, respectively, and its structure was approximately spherical.

Key words: β-glucan, orthogonal array design, average molecular weight