Chemistry of seaweeds
Seaweeds are reported to contain innumerable minerals and bioactive
molecules such as carbohydrates, proteins (15), and a lesser degree of
lipid along with small molecules such as alkaloids, saponins, pigments,
and peptides (16). Alginate is an example of polysaccharides composed of
unbranched chain made of (1- 53 4)-β-D-mannuronic acid residues and
(1-4)-α-L-guluronic acid residues (17). These polyuronans exist in
seaweeds as salts of more than 50 different metals frequently in the
form of sodium and calcium (17). Structure of some bioactive compounds
are known; Figure 1 presents structure of bioactive compounds
from seaweeds available in the WIO.
Figure 1 : Structure of bioactive compounds from seaweeds
available in the WIO