title: Degradation of κ-carrageenan by hydrolysis with commercial α-amylase.
abstract: κ-Carrageenan was degraded by hydrolysis using commercial α-amylase (4000 U/mg). The hydrolysis process was monitored by the intrinsic viscosity [η] of the hydrolysates. Factors affecting the enzymatic hydrolysis of carrageenan were investigated, and the optimum hydrolysis conditions were as follows: duration, 4 h; pH, 7.5; temperature, 50°C; and amount of commercial α-amylase, 40 mg of the mixture containing 5 g κ-Carrageenan. Under the optimized conditions, minimum intrinsic viscosity (12.31) was obtained. The dextrose-equivalent value of the resulting products was 20.41, indicating that the average degree of polymerization was approximately equal to 5.0. The hydrolysates were filtered, concentrated to ∼15% (w/v), and precipitated with 6 volumes of ethanol; the precipitates were then freeze-dried to yield a white, water-soluble powder. The carrageenan-derived oligosaccharide content of the product and the yield were 96.5% and 92.6% (w/w), respectively.
authors.affiliation: School of Marine Science and Technology, Huaihai Institute of Technology, 59 Cangwu Road, Lianyungang 222005, China.
authors.forename: Sheng-Jun
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D002351:Carrageenan / Q000737:chemistry*; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D006868:Hydrolysis; D009844:Oligosaccharides / Q000737:chemistry*; D013696:Temperature; D000516:alpha-Amylases / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D009844:Oligosaccharides; D002351:Carrageenan; D000516:alpha-Amylases