Seaweed carbohydrates

Because of their large interfacial area, emulsions are basically unstable. In order to produce a stable emulsion, a surfactant is mostly needed. The surfactants are adsorbed at the oil-water interface, forming a link between the two phases of different polarity. For this purpose, a wide variety of emulsifying agents is currently available. Polysaccharides such as arabic gum, tragacanth, Karaya gum, and different seaweed carbohydrate polymers have been employed. They, however, show considerable batch-to-batch variations and might support microbial growth. 

Rioux, L., Turgeon, S. L., and Beaulieu, M. (2007). Characterization of polysaccharides extracted from brown seaweeds. Carbohydr. Polym. 3,530-537. 

Most carbohydrates exist in the form of polysaccharides. Polysaccharides give stmcture to the cell walls of land plants (cellulose), seaweeds, and some microorganisms and store energy (starch in plants and glycogen in animals). They are important in the human diet and in many commercial apphcations. 

L-Galactose is a common constituent of seaweed polysaccharides [see T. Mori, Advances in Carbohydrate Chern., 8, 316 (1954)], but it has been found previously only in linseed mucilage [E. Anderson and H. J. Lowe, J. Biol. Chern., 168, 289 (1947)] amongst land plants. 

C. A. Stortz, M. R. Cases, and A. S. Cerezo, The system of agaroids and carrageenans from the soluble fraction of the tetrasporic stage of the red seaweed Iridaea undulosa, Carbohydr. Polym., 34 (1997) 61-65. 

R. Falshaw, R. H. Fumeaux, and D. E. Stevenson, Agars from nine species of red seaweed in the genus Curdiea (Gracilariaceae, Rhodophyta), Carbohydr. Res., 308 (1998) 107-115. 

R. Takano, H. Iwane-Sakata, K. Hayashi, S. Hara, and S. Hirase, Concurrence of agaroid and carrageenan chains in funoran from the red seaweed Gloiopeltis furcata Post, et Ruprecht (Crypto-nemiales, Rhodophyta), Carbohydr. Polym., 35 (1998) 81-87. 

M. K. Fatema, H. Nonami, D. R. B. Ducatti, A. G. Gonqalves, M. E. R. Duarte, M. D. Noseda, A. S. Cerezo, R. Erra-Balsells, and M. C. Matulewicz, Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry analysis of oligosaccharides and oligosaccharide alditols obtained by hydrolysis of agaroses and carrageenans, two important types of red seaweed polysaccharides, Carbohydr. Res., 345 (2010) 275-283. 

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