STUDIES ON MOLECULAR-WEIGHTS OF POLYSACCHARIDES OF AURICULARIA-AURICULA-JUDAE

Three D-glucans (A, C, and E) and two acidic heteropolysaccharides (D and B), isolated from the fruit bodies of Auricularia auricula-judae (which grows in Fangshan, Hubei, China) were analysed by paper chromatography, gas chromatography, and IR and C-13 NMR. Glucans A, C, and E consist mainly of a backbone chain of beta-(1 --> 3)-D-glucose residues, with various branched groups. Polysaccharides D and B contain residues of D-xylose, D-mannose, D-galactose, D-glucose, and D-glucuronic acid. The weight-average molecular weights M(w), number-average molecular weights M(n), intrinsic viscosities [eta], and Huggins constants k' of these, polysaccharides were studied by light scattering, membrane osmometry, and viscometry. The values of M(w) for samples of A, C, E, D, and B are 117 X 10(4), 144 X 10(4), 200 X 10(4), 30 X 10(4), and 50 X 10(4), respectively. Analysis of the M(w), M(n), [eta], and k' data indicates polysaccharides A and E to have stiff chains, and C, D, and B flexible chains in aqueous solutions.