Isolation, Physicochemical Properties, and Structural Characteristics of Arabinoxylan from Hull-Less Barley

Arabinoxylan (HBAX-60) was fractioned from alkaline-extracted arabinoxylan (HBAX) in the whole grain of hull-less barley ( L. Hook. f. ) by 60% ethanol precipitation, which was studied for physicochemical properties and structure elucidation. Highly purified HBAX-60 mainly composed of arabinose (40.7%) and xylose (59.3%) was created. The methylation and NMR analysis of HBAX-60 indicated that a low-branched β-(1→4)-linked xylan backbone possessed un-substituted (1,4-linked β-Xyl , 36.2%), mono-substituted (β-1,3,4-linked Xyl , 5.9%), and di-substituted (1,2,3,4-linked β-Xyl , 12.1%) xylose units as the main chains, though other residues (α-Ara -(1→, β-Xyl -(1→, α-Ara -(1→3)-α-Ara -(1→ or β-Xyl -(1→3)-α-Ara -(1→) were also determined. Additionally, HBAX-60 exhibited random coil conformation in a 0.1 M NaNO solution. This work provides the properties and structural basis of the hull-less barley-derived arabinoxylan, which facilitates further research for exploring the structure-function relationship and application of arabinoxylan from hull-less barley.