Morphological, physico-chemical and structural characterization of mucilage isolated from the seeds of Buchanania lanzan Spreng

Abstract

Context: Mucilage isolated from the seeds of Buchanania lanzan a wild Indian plant. This mucilage can be commercially exploited, by evaluating physico-chemical properties of this mucilage. Materials and Methods: Various physico-chemical parameter using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), molecular weight, X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectrometry, zeta potential (ZP), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and 1D ( 1 H and 13 C) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) have been employed to characterize mucilage in the present study. Results: SEM analysis suggests that the mucilage has irregular particle size. Thermogravimetry analysis suggested that mucilage had good thermal stability with two stage decomposition. The weight-average molecular weight of mucilage was determined to be 4883, by gel permeation chromatography. The XRD pattern of the mucilage indicated a completely amorphous structure. The ZP was obtained 1.56 and −9.49 mV in water and 0.1 N NaCl respectively. The major functional groups identified from FT-IR spectrum include 3459/cm (-OH), 1667/cm (Alkenyl C-H and C = C stretch), 1407/cm (-COO-) and 1321/cm (-CH 3 CO). Analysis of mucilage by paper chromatography and 1D NMR indicated the presence of rhamnose, arabinose and fructose. Conclusion: The spectral and chromatography analysis of mucilage indicate that the mucilage is composed of basic sugar moiety such as (arabinose, rhamnose, fructose and mannose) as complex carbohydrates.