Agar from the unattached form of Gracilaria verrucosa (Huds.) Papenf. of Primorski territory

A. A. Lapshina, E. G. Ivanova, E. A. Titlyanov, A. I. Usov

Institute of Marine Biology, Far East Division, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Vladivostok; N. D. Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow

Abstract: Gel-forming galactans were isolated from the Far East red seaweed Cracilaria verrucosa (unattached form) by the hot water extraction before or after treatment with 1 M sodium hydroxide. According to chemical evidence and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy, the polysaccharides are typical representatives of the agar group. The native galactan contains about 13% of neutral agarose fraction and is somewhat inferior to the Difco bacto-agar in gel strength. The yield and gel strength of the polysaccharide are increased 1,5 fold upon the alkaline modification, which increases the agarose content from 13 to 50%. Based on these data, the unattached form of G. verrucosa may be a potential source for the agar production and an object of interest for mariculture.

Russian Journal of Bioorganic Chemistry 1991, 17 (11):1494-1499

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