Physicochemical Parameters for Brea Gum Exudate from Cercidium praecox Tree

MASUELLI, MARTIN; SLATVUSTKY, ANÍBAL; OCHOA, ARIEL; BERTUZZI, M.

Colloids and Interfaces

MDPI

Lugar: Basel; Año: 2018 vol. 2 p. 1 - 13

Brea gum (BG) is a hydrocolloid obtained as an exudate from the Cercidium praecox tree.The physicochemical properties of brea gum are similar to those of the arabic gum and, in many cases,the former can replace the latter. The brea gum was incorporated in 2013 into the Argentine Food Codebecause of its ancestral background and its current food uses. Brea gum could be also used as additiveor excipient for pharmacological formulations. This work reports intrinsic viscosity, coil overlap,and Mark?Houwink?Kuhn?Sakurada (MHKS) parameters of BG solutions. Partially hydrolyzedBG solution was analyzed using intrinsic viscosity measurements, dynamic light scattering and size-exclusion chromatography (SEC). The hydrodynamic parameters of BG were indicative of a hyperbranched structure and spherical conformation. The knowledge obtained on the physicochemical properties ofbrea gum favors its use in food and pharmaceutical applications.