Structural, functional, and antioxidant properties of water-soluble polysaccharides from potatoes peels

• Polysaccharides were extracted from potato peels with a yield of 29.85 ± 1.493%.
• The structure of PPPW was examined by FT-IR, XRD and GC–MS analysis.
• PPPW showed interesting water-holding and fat-binding capacities.
• PPPW composed by galactose (69.06%) as the dominant sugar.
• Polysaccharides from potato peels exhibited strong antioxidant activity in vitro.

Water-soluble polysaccharides were extracted from potato peel waste (PPW). The structure of the polysaccharides from PPW (PPPW) was examined by means of Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analysis, X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). The results suggest that the extracted polysaccharides form a semi-crystalline polymer constituted essentially of the functional groups CO, CH and OH. Acid hydrolysis of this polymer yielded glucose (76.25%) as the dominant sugar functional properties (water holding capacity: WHC, oil holding capacity: OHC, foaming, and emulsion properties) of this polymer were studied. The PPPW showed interesting water-holding and fat-binding capacities which were 4.097 ± 0.537 g/g and 4.398 ± 0.04 g/g, respectively. In addition, it presented good foaming and emulsion properties. The antioxidant activity of this polymer was also studied and revealed that the polysaccharides showed interesting 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical-scavenging capacity (IC50 PPPW = 11.578 mg/mL), reducing power and β-carotene bleaching inhibition activities, and also a strong ABTS radical scavenging activity (IC50 PPPW = 2 mg/mL). Overall, the results suggest that the polysaccharide is a promising source of natural antioxidants and can be used as additive in food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic preparations.