title: On the chain flexibility of arabinoxylans and other beta-(1-->4) polysaccharides.
abstract: The recent paper by Dervilly-Pinel and co-workers (Carbohydr. Res. 2001, 330, 365-372) presents a complete macromolecular characterisation of a series of de-esterified arabinoxylans extracted and fractionated from wheat flour. From their measurements, they were able to extract parameters related to chain flexibility, such as the Mark-Houwink exponent a and the chain persistence length. However, the estimate they obtain for the latter parameter is rather larger than would be expected, since the arabinoxylan backbone is beta-(1-->4) like cellulose and the galactomannans. By treating their data in an alternative, but well accepted manner, we are able to obtain a lower value of persistence length, which agrees well with estimates for this parameter for cellulose, in the literature, and our own recent measurements for a series of differently substituted galactomannans. These results suggest that the parameters obtained may be applicable to other beta-(1-->4) polysaccharides.
authors.affiliation: Biopolymers Group, Division of Life Sciences, King's College London, Franklin-Wilkins Building, 150 Stamford Street, Waterloo, SE1 9NN, London, UK.
authors.forename: David R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Picout
authors.forename: Simon B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Ross-Murphy
mesh_terms: D002236:Carbohydrate Conformation; D005690:Galactose / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D008351:Mannans / Q000737:chemistry; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008970:Molecular Weight; D014783:Viscosity; D014990:Xylans / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D008351:Mannans; D014990:Xylans; C012990:galactomannan; C085118:arabinoxylan; D005690:Galactose