Separation and purification of xylose oligomers using centrifugal partition chromatography

摘要

Xylose oligomers, which have a prebiotic effect, have been used as additives to human and animal food. These oligomers are also the primary intermediate in hemicellulose degradation during the pretreatment of biomass. Centrifugal partition chromatography (CPC) was used in this study to separate and purify xylan-derived oligomers from birchwood xylan. The xylan was partially hydrolyzed to achieve varying degrees of polymerization at 130 degree C using 0.98% aqueous sulfuric acid for 20min with a 2.5% solid loading. The CPC solvent system consisting of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), tetrahydrofuran (THF), and water in a 1:6:3 volumetric ratio was used because of its ability to dissolve xylose oligomers of different degrees of polymerization. The CPC was operated in the ascending mode with the water- and DMSO-rich bottom phase acting as the stationary phase, while the THF-rich top phase was the eluent. This paper delineates a method for the production and purification of xylose monomer and xylose oligomers (up to xylopentaose) using CPC. The amount and purity of compounds collected from the CPC fractionation based on 1g of birchwood xylan were 25.26mg of xylose at 91.86% purity, 10.71mg of xylobiose at 85.07% purity, 4.15mg of xylotriose at 54.71% purity, 5.03mg of xylotetraose at 38.33% purity and 3.31mg of xylopentaose at 30.43% purity.