Heterogeneity in a water-extractable rye arabinoxylan with a low degree of disubstitution

From rye grain samples, water extractable arabinoxylan with a low degree of disubstitution (AX I) was isolated by fractionation on a DEAE-cellulose column. AX I of all rye samples had a similar relative composition of un- and monosubstituted xylose residues and with less than 5% disubstitution. It showed a shear thinning behaviour and the viscosity was related to molecular weight. AX I isolated from different rye varieties had different viscosities at the same concentration. One rye sample had a weight average molecular weight of 125 000 (polydispersity 2) according to calculations from both light scattering and viscosity data. Signals from un- and monosubstituted xylose residues in 13C NMR spectra were assigned using 13C-HSQC-DEPT and COSY techniques. AX I probably consisted of blocks or different molecules with sparsely and more densely substituted regions.