Designed optimization of a single-step extraction of fucose-containing sulfated polysaccharides from Sargassum sp

Fucose-containing sulfated polysaccharides can be extracted from the brown seaweed, Sargassum sp. It has been reported that fucose-rich sulfated polysaccharides from brown seaweeds exert different beneficial biological activities including anti-inflammatory, anticoagulant, and anti-viral effects. Classical extraction of fucose-containing sulfated polysaccharides from brown seaweed species typically involves extended, multiple-step, hot acid, or CaCl2 treatments, each step lasting several hours.

In this work, we systematically examined the influence of acid concentration (HCl), time, and temperature on the yield of fucosecontaining sulfated polysaccharides (FCSPs) in statistically designed two-step and single-step multifactorial extraction experiments. All extraction factors had significant effects on the fucose-containing sulfated polysaccharides yield, with the temperature and time exerting positive effects, and the acid concentration having a negative effect.

The model defined an optimized single-step FCSPs extraction procedure for Sargassum sp. (a brown seaweed). A maximal fucosecontaining sulfated polysaccharides yield of ∼7% of the Sargassum sp. dry matter was achieved by the optimal extraction procedure of: 0.03 M HCl, 90°C, 4 h. HPAECPAD analysis confirmed that fucose, galactose, and glucuronic acid were the major constituents of the polysaccharides obtained by the optimized method.

Lower polysaccharide yield, but relatively higher fucose content was obtained with shorter extraction time. The data also revealed that classical multi-step extraction with acid ≥0.2 M HCl at elevated temperature and extended time had a detrimental effect on the FCSPs yield as this treatment apparently disrupted the structural integrity of the polymer and evidently caused degradation of the carbohydrate chains built up of fucose residues.