FTIR-ATR spectroscopy as a tool for polysaccharide identification in edible brown and red seaweeds

Phycocolloids present in three brown (Himanthalia elongata, Bifurcaria bifurcata, Saccharina latissima) and five red edible seaweeds (Mastocarpus stellatus, Gigartina pistillata, Chondracanthus acicularis, Nemalion helminthoides and Dumontia contorta) were studied by FTIR-ATR spectroscopy. Infrared spectra of polysaccharide standards (alginate, agar, iota-, kappa- and lambda-carrageenan) were obtained for comparison. The main polysaccharide found in brown seaweeds was alginate, a linear copolymer of mannuronic (M) and guluronic acid (G). Alginate M/G ratio was tentatively estimated from specific absorption bands (808/787 cm−1 and 1030/1080 cm−1) in infrared spectra, suggesting higher values of mannuronic than guluronic acid blocks (M/G > 1) for brown seaweeds. According to their infrared spectra, all the red seaweeds studied were mainly carrageenan producers. Thus, M. stellatus showed absorption bands at 929.0, 844.7 and 803.2 cm−1 of a typical hybrid kappa/iota/mu/nu-carrageenan, meanwhile G. pistillata and C. acicularis, showed the characteristic broad band (830–820 cm−1) of lambda-type carrageenan. Moreover, when the second-derivative was obtained to improve resolution of overlapped bands in the original FTIR spectra, this band was divided into several sharper signals, indicating the presence of lambda-/theta-/xi-carrageenans. Accordingly with their FTIR spectra, N. helminthoides contained sulphated polysaccharides, such as carrageenan or mannans, while D. contorta produced lambda- with lesser amounts of kappa-carrageenan. Therefore, FTIR-ATR spectroscopy is proposed as a useful tool for the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industry to check the phycocolloid quality of a raw seaweed material by a quick and non-destructive method.

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