A study of fucoidan from the brown seaweed Chorda filum

• Published in: Carbohydrate research 1999-07, Vol.320 (1), p.108-119
• Main Authors: Chizhov, Alexander O., Dell, Anne, Morris, Howard R., Haslam, Stuart M., McDowell, Roy A., Shashkov, Alexander S., Nifant’ev, Nikolay E., Khatuntseva, Elena A., Usov, Anatolii I.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: brown seaweeds; Carbohydrate Conformation; Carbohydrate Sequence; chemical structure; Chorda filum; Fucoidans; fucose; Indicators and Reagents; Methylation; Methylation analysis; Molecular Sequence Data; Molecular Weight; NMR; nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy; Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular; Oligosaccharides - chemistry; Oligosaccharides - isolation & purification; Phaeophyceae - chemistry; polysaccharides; Polysaccharides - chemistry; Polysaccharides - isolation & purification; Seaweed - chemistry; Sulfated polysaccharides
• ISSN: 0008-6215; 1873-426X
• DOI: 10.1016/S0008-6215(99)00148-2

Fucoidan fractions from the brown seaweed Chorda filum were studied using solvolytic desulfation. Methylation analysis and NMR spectroscopy were applied for native and desulfated polysaccharides. Homofucan sulfate from C. filum was shown to contain poly-α-(1→3)-fucopyranoside backbone with a high degree of branching, mainly of α-(1→2)-linked single units. Some fucopyranose residues are sulfated at O-4 (mainly) and O-2 positions. Some α-(1→3)-linked fucose residues were shown by NMR to be 2-O-acetylated. The 1H and 13C NMR spectra of desulfated, deacetylated fucan were completely assigned. The spectral data obtained correspond to a quasiregular polysaccharide structure with a branched hexasaccharide repeating unit. Other fucoidan fractions from C. filum have more complex carbohydrate composition and give rather complex methylation patterns.