When I looked this up, this is the information that is first presented to me-
Gliadin is a class of proteins present in wheat and several other cereals within the grass genus Triticum. Gliadins, which are a component of gluten, are essential for giving bread the ability to rise properly during baking.
Is there away to separate the two, so I can utilize the properties of gliadin without having to succumb to all of the components of gluten?
The difference between gluten and gliadin is the one already explained in your question: Gliadin is a precursor to gluten. You could say that gliadin is to gluten what grains are to porridge. Gluten is the result of glutenin reacting with gliadin in the presence of water, just like porridge is the result of grains "reacting" with milk in the presence of heat.
I don't understand why you are asking for separating them. It would be hard to do, and will achieve no good purpose.
First, I don't know if there is a way to extract the gliadin from wheat. There are industrial processes for extracting "gluten" out of wheat, but I don't know if they produce a mixture of glutenin and gliadin (which could be further purified) or if they already cause the glutenin and gliadin to bind a gluten. But note that the remaining flour will not be gluten-free, as these methods cannot extract every last molecule of glutenin and gliadin. So you cannot remove the glutenin from flour and stay with gliadin-containing flour.
Second, assuming that you can extract the gliadin, you can add it to some gluten free flour like cornflour. But there is absolutely no reason doing so. The definition you cited only says that gliadin is "essential" for rising, but not that it alone produces rising. It is the gluten itself that produces rising, and the gliadin is essential only because without it, there would be no gluten. Gliadin alone does not have any benefits.
Third, if you add gliadin to a gluten free flour, you will not have removed any of the problems inherent in using gluten. People who are allergic to gluten will still be allergic to the gliadin.
To sum it up, gliadin is a structural part of gluten, and if you can find a method to extract it without the glutenin, you will experience no benefits of baking with it, or prevent any undesired side effects like triggering allergies or celiac.
Gliadens CAN be separated from Glutenins. One method is by ethanol. Also, Gliadens are not a precursor to Glutenins. They are different types. Gliadens are momomers and are soluble in 50 % ethanol. Glutenins are polymers, are insoluble in ethanol and are of a high molecular weight. In water, Gliadens present as a honey-like viscous fuid whereas glutenins are of a low extensibility, very strong and mainly elastic.
The mixture of the two is what about for visocelastic properties and extensibility of "gluten" with gliadens functioning mainly as a plasticizer for glutens depending on homogeneous mixing.
(paraphrased from source- The Role of Gluten Elasticity in the Baking Quality of Wheat, R. Kieffer, Mühlenchemie - retrieved February 26, 2018)
