Abstract
Superior quality non-methylated and low-sulphated galactans were extracted from two Indian agarophytes namely Gracilaria debilis and G. salicornia growing naturally along the west coast of India, using an eco-friendly method developed in our laboratory. The galactans were characterised by FT-IR, 13C NMR, GC-MS, ICP, GPC and rheological measurements. G. debilis produced exclusively non-methylated galactan exhibiting the greatest gel strength of 650±25 g cm−2 and lowest sulphate of 0.21±0.06%. On the contrary, G. salicornia polysaccharide was composed of non-methylated galactose (major) and mannose (minor), having gel strength of 510±25 g cm−2 and sulphate of 0.45±0.06%. Very low heavy metal contents were determined in both the galactan samples, which may thus be potentially useful in food and biological applications.
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Acknowledgements
Grateful thanks are accorded to CSIR, New Delhi, for the award of a fellowship to GKM. The authors thank the Department of Science & Technology, New Delhi, for financial support (DST Sanction No. SR/FT/CS-001/2008).
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Mehta, G.K., Meena, R., Prasad, K. et al. Preparation of galactans from Gracilaria debilis and Gracilaria salicornia (Gracilariales, Rhodophyta) of Indian waters. J Appl Phycol 22, 623–627 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-010-9502-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-010-9502-1