Fabrication of Nanoparticles of Sulfated Low Methoxyl Pectin by Cross-linking Reaction on Ionotropic Gelation Technique

The sulfation process on pectin produces a number of sulfate groups replacing hydroxyl groups within low methoxyl pectin (LMP) chains. A structure alteration due to the sulfation process may results in changes in LMP characteristics. The LMP sulfation process was aimed to reach an increase in pectin functionality in terms of bioactivities. To gain sulfated LMP (sLMP) performance, the ionic gelation process was undertaken so as sLMP nanoparticles were obtained through cross-linking reactions with divalent cations. The sulfation process on sLMP was conducted by employing different volume of SO3-DMF solvent. According to the Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy analysis, pectin was successfully sulfated indicated by the presence of –S groups within pectin chains. The sulfation process with solution of SO3-DMF 9.0 mL indicated the best results, i.e. sulfated percentage of 43.63% with the sulfate content of 0.302% and degree of sulfation of 0.0155. Sulfated LMP formed nanoparticles in a formula combination of LMP:sLMP (a ratio of 1:1) with a composition of pectin of 2% and CaCl2 of 0.8%. The nanoparticles of sulfated pectin was relatively stable at cool temperature storage.