Pectic Polysaccharides of Fruits: Characterization, Fractional Changes and Industrial Application - Natural Polymers, Biopolymers, Biomaterials, and Their Composites, Blends, and IPNs - page 230

of important functions to perform. However, the function of the arabinan and galac-
tan side-chains of pectin remains unknown. The basic properties of pectin have been
known for nearly 200 years, but recently there has been tremendous progress in the
fine structure of pectic polymer by application of the advanced techniques including
high-throughput microarray analysis, enzymatic fingerprinting, mass spectrometry,
NMR, molecular modeling and using of monoclonal antibodies. The phase diagrams
of pectin-calcium systems showed that gelation is possible because of the strong inter-
actions of calcium with pectins. An increase in the ionic strength, a neutral pH, and a
decrease in the setting temperature and the degree of methylation lower the amount of
calcium required for the gel formation. However, the complex physico-chemical prop-
erties of the pectic polymer are not yet well understood. Future studies would highly
require to unfold the molecular mechanism of pectic polymer in sol-gel synthesis for
more applicability in various novel applications. Moreover, new sophisticated design-
er pectin with specific functionalities would have a major impact on fruit processing
and pharmaceutical industries.

KeyWords

• Cell wall

• oxalate-soluble pectic substances

• Pectic polysaccharides

• Pectin

• Polyuronic acids

• rhamnogalacturonan

• Water-soluble pectic substances