On the gelling behaviour of ‘nopal’ (Opuntia ficus indica) low methoxyl pectin

Adriana Cárdenas; Goycoolea Valencia,  Francisco Martín; Marguerite Rinaudo

Publication:
On the gelling behaviour of ‘nopal’ (Opuntia ficus indica) low methoxyl pectin

dc.contributor.author	Adriana Cárdenas
dc.contributor.author	Goycoolea Valencia, Francisco Martín
dc.contributor.author	Marguerite Rinaudo
dc.contributor.department	Biología Celular e Histología
dc.contributor.other	Facultades de la UMU::Facultad de Biología
dc.coverage.spatial	Mexico
dc.date.accessioned	2026-02-05T12:05:03Z
dc.date.available	2026-02-05T12:05:03Z
dc.date.issued	2007-11-22
dc.description.abstract	Fully de-esterified pectin with excellent gelling properties was isolated in the sodium-salt form from fresh ‘nopal’ cactus (Opuntia ficus indica) pads (0.6% w/w yield of fresh weight) using an alkaline extraction medium in the presence of a sequestering agent. Sugars com- position of the cactus pectin alkaline extract (CPAE) was: 85.4% uronic acids, 7.0% galactose, 6.0% arabinose and minor quantities of rhamnose and xylose. Features of the Fourier-transformed infrared spectrum were nearly identical to those of commercial citrus pectin as well as to homogalacturan-rich pectin isolated from prickly pear, lime peel, and sugar beet pulp. The gelling behavior of this material was studied as a function of amount of Ca2+ added and temperature by dynamic oscillatory rheology. Addition of Ca2+ at 85 °C was adjusted at varying stoichiometric ratios, R (=2 [Ca2+]/[COO􏰀]), namely 0.07, 0.21, 0.35 and 0.42 and fixed pectin concentration (16 g/ L), and a temperature dependent behavior of the system on cooling was imposed. Evolution of the viscoelastic storage (G0) and loss (G0 0 moduli on cooling revealed unequivocal set up of a gel network under a highly cooperative sol-gel transition at R 6 0.21. At greater R values, the Ca2+-mediated dimeric association of pectin chains led to formation of a gel network even at 85 °C. On heating, pectin gels melted partially at temperatures notably greater than those at which they were formed. Thermal hysteresis observed between the cooling and heating temperature traces is explained in terms of helix–helix aggregation. The gelling behavior of this system is interpreted in terms of the formation of two distinct types of junctions mediated by the stoichiometric amount of calcium (R). Namely, short ‘egg-box’ type junctions formed directly at high temperature on addition of calcium (limited zones are related to high mobility of the chains) and highly cooperative 21 helix junctions followed by aggregation formed at lower temperature under a thermal conformational transition driven by charge neutralization and lower chain mobility (related to stabilization by H-bonds).
dc.format	application/pdf
dc.format.extent	11
dc.identifier.citation	Cárdenas A., *Goycoolea F.M., Rinaudo M. (2008). On the gelling behaviour of ‘nopal’ (Opuntia ficus indica) low methoxyl pectin. Carbohydr. Polym. 73: 212-222
dc.identifier.doi	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbpol.2007.11.017
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10201/200149
dc.language	eng
dc.publisher	Elsevier
dc.relation	Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACyT, Mexico) for research Grant No. 29088 and to Centre Nacional de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS, France) for an international co-operation grant.
dc.rights	Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International	*
dc.rights.accessRights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/	*
dc.subject	Pectin; Opuntia ficus indica; Gel formation
dc.subject.ods	No relacionado con ningún objetivo de desarrollo sostenible
dc.title	On the gelling behaviour of ‘nopal’ (Opuntia ficus indica) low methoxyl pectin
dc.type	info:eu-repo/semantics/article
dc.type.version	info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion
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