Characterization of free sugars and xyloglucan-type polysaccharides of two tropical legumes

The major alcohol-soluble sugars in the dehulled flours of Detanium microcarpum and Mucuna flagellipes were glucose, fructose sucrose, raffinose and stachyose. Sucrose was the predominant sugar. Extraction with 10% trichloroacetic acid of the alcohol-insoluble residue gave a highly viscogenic mucilaginous polysaccharide complex, which upon anion exchange and gel permeation chromatographies gave a xyloglucan-type polysaccharide, having a 1,4-linked d-glucan backbone with branch-off residues composed of 1,6-linked d-xylose and some non-reducing terminal glucose moieties. The degree of branching was relatively high in D. microcarpum fraction.