초록 |
β-glucan is composed of glucose units linked together to form a long chain and is a fiber-type homopolysaccharide obtained from the cell walls of yeast, oat, barley, and from many medicinal mushrooms. It is a biocompatible, biodegradable and non-toxic polymer, which makes it attractive for applications in the medical, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries. However, β-glucan with high viscosity and low solubility poses several impediments to being applied. In this study β-glucan is depolymerized to obtain low molecular weight β-glucan by electron beam. In addition, the depolymerized β-glucan was characterized by viscosity, gel permeation chromatography (GPC), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FR-IR) etc. |