Zooglan, an extracellular acidic polysaccharide isolated from Zoogloea ramigera 115 as a novel catalytic carbohydrate for methanolysis

Zooglan, the acidic exopolysaccharide produced by Zoogloea ramigera functioned as a novel catalytic carbohydrate for methanolysis of 4-benzylidene-2-phenyloxazolone, one of 5(4H)-oxazolones. The conversion rate was enhanced by zooglan with increasing reaction temperature up to 70 °C. Zooglan accelerated the conversion about 189-fold for the oxazolone compound comparing with a control at 70 °C, when the conversion rate (% conversion/min) was determined at the mid point of the inflection on the curves fitted to the data points measured. Herein, we propose that complex carbohydrates derived from microorganisms, containing zooglan could have potentials as catalysts in specific organic reactions.