Yuetuan Zhang, Maonian Xu and Björn Viðar Aðalbjörnsson
Introduction
Water-soluble polysaccharides (WSPs) in edible seaweeds are not only interesting functional food ingredients (e.g. gel-forming property, health benefits), but also useful for seaweed taxon differentiation. The current study aimed to characterise the monosaccharide profiles of WSPs from Icelandic edible seaweeds.
Material and methods
five species were included, namely kombu Iceland , sugar kelp, dulse and two types of nori. WSPs were extracted with hot water for one hours and repeated twice. WSPs were then subjected to acid hydrolysis into monosaccharides, which were derivatised with 3-methyl-1-phenyl-2-pyrazoline-5-one before HPLC analysis.
Results
An HPLC method for monosaccharide profiling has been developed. Monosaccharide composition of each seaweed was characterised. Multivariate data analysis was performed and monosaccharide pattern was find for seaweed taxon differentiation.
Conclusions
The current study investigated the monosaccharide profiles of Icelandic edible seaweeds, which have important implications about seaweed utilisation and taxon differentiation.
