Structural characterization of the acetylated heteroxylan from the natural hybrid Paulownia elongata/Paulownia fortunei Original Research Article

The heteroxylan from the hybrid Paulownia elongata/Paulownia fortunei is an O-acetyl-(4-O-methylglucurono)xylan with an acetylation degree (DS) of 0.59 and a molecular weight (Mw) of 29 kDa. The heteroxylan backbone is composed by (1→4)-linked β-d-xylopyranosyl units (Xylp) partially ramified with terminal (1→2)-linked 4-O-methyl-α-d-glucuronosyl (MeGlcpA) and a small proportion of α-d-glucuronosyl (GlcpA) residues in a molar ratio of Xylp:(MeGlcpA+GlcpA) of 20:1. Roughly half of the β-d-xylopyranosyl units in the backbone are acetylated: 3-O-acetylated (22 mol %), 2-O-acetylated (23 mol %) or 2,3-di-O-acetylated (7 mol %). ESI-MS and MALDI-MS studies of partially hydrolyzed heteroxylan revealed a random distribution of O-Ac and MeGlcpA within the backbone. However, the frequency of substitution with O-Ac along the backbone is not uniform and the molecular regions that did not contain MeGlcpA substituents possessed an acetylation degree significantly lower than the average DS of the xylan.