Fractionation of cereal flour by sedimentation in non-aqueous systems. I. Development of the method and chemical characterisation of the fractions

A method for the fractionation of wheat, rye, and barley flours without using aqueous solvents was developed. The separation of protein and starch was based on differences in their densities. Therefore, ball-milled flour was suspended in a mixture of inert solvents (toluene/tetrachoroethene) with a density of 1.47 g/cm3 and centrifuged. Owing to its higher density, the starch fraction was obtained as sediment whereas the protein fraction (PF) formed a layer on the surface of the solvent because of its lower density. The PF was enriched in a solvent mixture with a density of 1.355 g/cm3 yielding a middle fraction (sediment) and the enriched PF (upper layer). The latter was then defatted with toluene (0.87 g/cm) providing a lipid fraction in addition. The influence of ball milling under air or in the sedimentation solvent on the yield and the purity of the fractions was studied. Three varieties of wheat, and one rye and barley variety were fractionated by the optimised method and the obtained fractions were characterised by chemical methods e.g. gel permeation chromatography, SDS electrophoresis, and a combined extraction/HPLC method.