Extraction, purification, physicochemical properties and antioxidant activity of a new polysaccharide from Ocimum album L. seed.

In this study, a novel polysaccharide fraction from Ocimum album seed was extracted and then purified by Cellulose DEAE-52 and Sephadex G-200 anion exchange chromatography. The structural, physicochemical and antioxidant properties of the main polysaccharide fraction (OAP-1A) were evaluated. The purified polysaccharide contained 94.3% carbohydrate, 3.56% moisture and 2.14% ash and result of gel permeation chromatography (GPC) showed average molecular weight of 593 kDa. The results of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) showed that OAP-1A was a neutral hetero-polysaccharide composed of mannose (35.7%), glucose (33.32%), galactose (19.6%) and rhamnose (11.38%). In addition, GC-MS data, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrum and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) analysis revealed that the backbone of OAP-1A consists of →3)-β-D-Manp-(1→, →3,4)-β-D-Manp-(1→, →3,6)-β-D-Manp-(1→, →3)-α-D-Glcp-(1→, →6)-β-D-Galp-(1→, →4)-α-L-Rhap-(1→ and α-D-Glcp-(1→. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis showed semi-crystalline structure in OAP-1A. Differential scanning colorimeter (DSC) and thermo-gravimetry analysis (TGA) indicated that OAP-1A had relatively high thermal stability. Moreover, OAP-1A showed strong scavenging activity against 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals.