Cereal Chem 66:362-365   |  VIEW ARTICLE

Characterization of Cereal Sugars and Oligosaccharides.

R. J. Henry and H. S. Saini. Copyright 1989 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Carbohydrates soluble in 80% ethanol from barley, oats, rye, rice, triticale, and wheat grains were fractionated and characterized by gel filtration and thin-layer chromatography. All cereal grains contained sucrose and small amounts of free glucose and fructose. Oligosaccharides were detected in all but the rice samples. Two series of oligosaccharides were found: the fructosyl derivatives of sucrose (fructan series) and the galactosyl derivatives of sucrose (raffinose series). Oats contained galactosyl derivatives of sucrose (raffinose and stachyose) but very little of the fructosyl derivatives. Both series of oligosaccharides were present in substantial amounts in barley, rye, and wheat. Rye contained greater concentrations of high molecular weight fructan (degrees of polymerization greater than 6) whereas wheat and barley had higher concentrations of fructan tri- and tetrasaccharides. Raffinose concentrations were highest in wheat and barley. Thin-layer chromatography indicated that 6G fructosyl sucrose (neokestose) was the most abundant of the isomeric fructosyl sucroses in wheat and barley. Triticale cultivars contained less high molecular weight fructan than rye but more low molecular weight oligosaccharides (3-6 degrees of polymerization) than rye or wheat.