Mild acid hydrolysis of fucoidan: characterization by electrophoresis and FT-Raman spectroscopy

Along with proteins, lipids, water and minerals, polysaccharides are the main chemical compounds of which macroalgae are built. Among the chemical compounds now widely examined is fucoidan (fucan, fucosan, sulfate fucan or sulfated fucan), a fucose-containing sulfated polysaccharide. Fucoidans isolated from different species have been extensively studied because of their varied biological properties, including anticoagulant and antitumor effects. Methodology based on mild acid hydrolysis can be used as an efficient tool to study the relationship between molecular weight of the sulfated polysaccharides and their biological activities. Anticancer activity of fucoidans can be significantly enhanced by lowering their molecular weight only when they are depolymerized under mild conditions. In this study, fucoidan was identified during extraction with H₂SO₄ and HCl; its presence was confirmed by FT-Raman spectroscopy in aqueous solution. In particular, shifts at 840 cm⁻¹ were analysed, which are due to the presence of sulfate at the axial C-4 position, as were the shifts at about 811–809 cm⁻¹, for which the sulfated fucoidan is responsible. Shifts of electrophoretic bands of fucoidan resulting from mild acid hydrolysis in H₂SO₄ and HCl were also analysed. The analytical procedure was developed using apparatus for cellulose acetate membrane electrophoresis and this was supplemented by semi-quantitative analysis.