ABSTRACT
Subcritical water is a natural and green way for extraction of plant biomass components. Here, subcritical water was employed as a media to extract β–glucan from barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) at 130–170°C and 10 MPa. MALDI TOF–MS revealed that main massed peaks of water soluble products were distributed at 500-2900 m/z with a peak to peak mass difference of 162 m/z, consistent with the repeating unit of β–glucan. At 170°C, all amount of water soluble β–glucan has been extracted. Next, the liquid fraction products were atomized directly to produce microsphere particles.