Comparison of Analytical Methods for Determining Methylesterification and Acetylation of Pectin

The esterification of galacturonic acid with methanol and/or acetic is important for the structural analysis pectin. Although several methods have been reported determining degree methylesterification (DM) and acetylation (DAc), present study compares optimizes three (titration, FT-IR HPLC) using commercial citrus pectin (CP). Our results showed that DM CP was 47.0%, 47.6% 48.0% as determined by titration, HPLC, respectively, suggesting determination nearly identical any these methods. However, titration approach requires more sample than other two. HPLC DAc 1.6%, an can be used to determine simultaneously. Here, we simplified optimized treatment compared it literature. provide useful information choosing appropriate based on various properties experimental conditions.