Fast and robust method to determine phenoyl and acetyl esters of polysaccharides by quantitative ¹H NMR.

The acetyl (AcE), feruloyl (FE), and p-coumaroyl (pCE) ester contents of different cereal and grass polysaccharides were determined by a quantitative ¹H NMR-based method. The repeatability and the robustness of the method were demonstrated by analyzing different plant polysaccharide preparations. Good sensitivity and selectivity for AcE, FE, and pCE were observed.