Determination of the pattern of methyl esterification in pectin. Distribution of contiguous nonesterified residues.

A method is described for determining the distribution of contiguous nonesterified galacturonic acid residues within pectins. First, the esterified galacturonic acids are converted to galactose by reduction with sodium borohydride, then the glycosidic linkages of the resulting galactose residues are cleaved selectively by liquid HF solvolysis. Separation and quantitation of the resulting galacturonic acid containing oligomers reveals the proportion of each stretch of contiguous nonesterified galacturonic acid residues in the original pectin. The distribution of nonesterified GalA in a pectin fraction obtained from cotton suspension culture cell walls with approximately 50% esterification appears to be far from random.