Properties of auricularia auricula‐judae β‐D‐glucan in dilute solution

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Abstract
A Water-soluble glucan A was isolated from the fruit body of Auricularia auricula-judae. It is composed of a backbone chain of β-(1 → 3)-linked D-glucose residues, two out of three glucose residues being substituted at C-6 positions with a single glucose unit. The weight average molecular weight Mw, number average molecular weight Mn, and intrinsic viscosity [η] of the fractionated samples were studied at 25°C in water and in dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO). The Mark-Houwink equation was established as [η] = 6. 10 × 10−4 Mw1.14 for the glucan A having Mw ranging from 9 × 105 to 1.6 × 106 in water. The values of [η] in water are far higher than those in DMSO, but the values of Mn measured in water are the same as those in DMSO. Analysis of Mw and [η] in terms of the known theories for rods and wormlike chains yielded 1030 ± 100 nm−1, 90 ± 20 nm, 1.3 ± 0.3 nm, and 0.26 ± 0.03 nm for molar mass per unit contour length ML, persistence length q, diameter d, and contour length h per main-chain glucose residue, respectively. The present data suggest that glucan A dissolves in water as single-stranded helical chains and in DMSO as semiflexible chains. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.