Chemical characterization of Artemisia seed polysaccharide

Artemisia seed polysaccharide (ASP) has great potential to be used as stabilizer, water retention agent and filmogen due to its high viscosity. This study reports analyses of its composition and molecule weight using gas chromatography (GC) and light scattering techniques. The molecular structure of the ASP at different concentrations was observed with atomic force microscopy (AFM). The relationship between structural and physical characteristics of ASP was also described in details. Our results showed that the ASP was composed of l-arabinose (l-Ara), d-xylose (d-Xyl), d-lyxose (d-Lyx), d-mannose (d-Man), d-glucose (d-Glu) and d-galactose (d-Gal). Its molecular weight was about 1.42 × 105. The ASP molecule had a linear backbone with branches. The network structure of ASP was formed through entanglement between the molecules of the polysaccharide.