Side chains of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris) pectins, which are mainly composed of arabinose (Ara) and galactose (Gal) residues, are esterified by ferulic acid units. Enzymatic hydrolysis of beet cell walls yielded several feruloylated oligosaccharides, which were separated by hydrophobic interaction chromatography. Two new oligomers were isolated in the fraction eluted by 25:75 (v/v) ethanol:water. An arabinotriose and an arabinotetraose esterified by two ferulic acid residues were obtained, and their structure was elucidated by mass spectrometry. It is shown that feruloyl groups are linked to O-5 of Ara residues, in addition to the known O-2 position. This work establishes for the first time, to our knowledge, that two neighboring Ara units may be esterified by two ferulic acid units. This close proximity may have important biochemical implications.
