Physicochemical Studies on Sulfated Polysaccharides Extracted from Seaweeds at Various Temperatures

Sulfated polysaccharides (SPS) were extracted from three species of seaweeds of Ulvacea (Ulva pertusa, Ulva conglobata and Entromorpha prolifera) for 4 hr at various temperatures and their physicochemical properties were studied using viscometric and equilibrium sedimentation measurements in order to determine the optimum extracting condition.

Sulfated polysaccharides extracted at various temperatures from the seaweed of U. pertusa had the same physicochemical properties, while the larger molecular components of SPS was not extracted from U. conglobata and E. prolifera, at the low temperature of 30~40°C. This was confirmed by analyses of their viscosity and molecular weight and by gel filtration chromatography, in which each SPS showed two or three peaks.

The larger molecular component of SPS could be extracted at the high temperature of 80~90°C in the thermostable form.