Fabrication and characterization of pectin-based green materials

Abstract

Pectin is a biopolymer extracted from the cell walls of higher plants; it has high molecular weight, nontoxic, and biocompatible characteristics. Pectin is a highly complex polymer, an heteropolysaccharide, and is mainly formed by D-galacturonic acid (D-GalA), which is present in different polymeric forms, that is, homogalacturonan (HG), rhamnogalacturonan-I (RG-I), and rhamnogalacturonan-II (RGII). The chemical structure of pectin will determine to a great extent its physicochemical properties and, hence, its future applications. Each of the different applications of pectin-based materials previously mentioned begins with the extraction of pectin from the plant material, which can be isolated from many different sources. Therefore, this chapter will review thoroughly the properties of pectin (different extraction methods and sources), the synthesis and fabrication of pectin-based green materials, and their characterization and varied applications.