Abstract: This study focused on the xanthan gum produced by Xanthomonas campestris CCTCC M2015714 with carbon source of glycerol. The monosaccharide composition of xanthan gum was glucose, mannose and glucuronic acid, the molar ratio of three monosaccharides was glucose∶ mannose∶ glucuronic acid=2.0∶ 1.65∶ 1.0. The results of FT-IR and NMR showed that xanthan gum produced from glycerol had similar functional groups and chemical structure comparing with commercial xanthan. The molecular weight of xanthan gum produced using our method was 3.0×106 u, which was about half of the commercial xanthan (6.4×106 u). Moreover, the viscosity of xanthan gum produced from glycerol was significantly lower than that of the commercial xanthan. Depending on this work, xanthan gum produced from glycerol exhibited great characteristics and also supplied a valuable method for glycerol application.

Key words: glycerol, Xanthomonas campestris, xanthan gum, characterization