Browsing by Author "Arte, Elisa"

The literature review focused on the composition of the barley hordeins and the known extraction methods. The metal-catalysed oxidation of proteins and amino acids was also reviewed. The aim of the experimental part was to develop a simple selective extraction method for the B and C hordeins and to study how metal-catalysed oxidation affects these hordeins. Hulles barley cf. Jorma was selected as test material since milling of this cultivar was simple with a Brabender Junior mill. From the milled barley, water and salt-soluble material were removed and the rest was freeze-dried. The freeze-dried sample flour was studied by gel separation, precipitation and extraction with aqueous alcohols. The aqueous alcohol extracted the C hordeins completely although there was some B hordeins present. Two-dimensional electrophoresis showed that the isoelectric point of C hordeins was between the pH 5–7. Aqueous alcohols, extraction temperatures and pH were studied for hordein extraction. None of the studied methods improved the extraction of B and C hordeins. The hordein sample used in further experiments was extracted with 55% 2-propanol at 50 ºC. The metal-catalysed oxidation of the extracted hordeins was studied by using copper or iron as a catalyst and hydrogen peroxide or ascorbic acid as an oxidant. The reactions were analysed with SDS-PAGE and SE-HPLC. The results showed that the most effective reaction was with copper and hydrogen peroxide where the B and C hordeins were degraded efficiently after 24 hours of incubation. The results from SE-HPLC showed aggregated B hordeins in the extracted sample, which were partly degraded after two hours of incubation with hydrogen peroxide and copper. The results of this study indicated that the biggest groups of hordeins, the B and C hordeins, cannot be selectively separated with extraction. The barley hordeins efficiently degraded in the metal-catalysed oxidation with hydrogen peroxide and copper.