title: Determination of uronic acids in isolated hemicelluloses from kenaf using diffuse reflectance infrared fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) and the curve-fitting deconvolution method.
abstract: Hemicellulose samples were isolated from kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.). Hemicellulosic fractions usually contain a variable percentage of uronic acids. The uronic acid content (expressed in polygalacturonic acid) of the isolated hemicelluloses was determined by diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) and the curve-fitting deconvolution method. A linear relationship between uronic acids content and the sum of the peak areas at 1745, 1715, and 1600 cm(-1) was established with a high correlation coefficient (0.98). The deconvolution analysis using the curve-fitting method allowed the elimination of spectral interferences from other cell wall components. The above method was compared with an established spectrophotometric method and was found equivalent for accuracy and repeatability (t-test, F-test). This method is applicable in analysis of natural or synthetic mixtures and/or crude substances. The proposed method is simple, rapid, and nondestructive for the samples.
authors.affiliation: Department of Science, Laboratory of Chemistry, Agricultural University of Athens, 75 Iera Odos, 118 55, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: A N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Batsoulis
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Nacos
authors.forename: C S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Pappas
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Tarantilis
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mavromoustakos
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Polissiou