Cellulose contents of some abundant Indian seaweed species.

Crude cellulose as well as alpha- and beta-celluloses were estimated in thirty-four seaweed species of fifteen orders of Chlorophyta, Phaeophyta and Rhodophyta of Indian waters. The greatest yields of crude cellulose and a-cellulose were obtained from Chaetomorpha aerea (approx. 20.0% and 18.5%, respectively), and of beta-cellulose (approx. 3.1%) from Caulerpa imbricata. The lowest crude cellulose, and alpha-and beta-contents were recorded for the calcareous red alga Liagora indica (approx. 0.90%, 0.70% and 0.10%, respectively). There was little variation in cellulose content among the brown algae, while wide variations in the yields were found in the green and red algae. The present work contributes to the repertoire of 67 Indian seaweed species studied to now for their cellulose contents in our laboratory. The combined studies highlight that Chaetomorpha aerea, Acrosiphonia orientalis, Caulerpa taxifolia, Sargassum tenerrimum, Hydroclathrus clathratus and Gelidiella acerosa possess relatively high (> 10%) cellulose contents, which could be of potential utility.

One-pot synthesis of fluorescent polysaccharides: adenine grafted agarose and carrageenan.

New fluorescent polysaccharides were synthesized by grafting the nucleobase adenine on to the backbones of agarose and κ-carrageenan, which were characterized by FT-IR, (13)C NMR, TGA, XRD, UV, and fluorescence properties. The synthesis involved a rapid water based potassium persulfate (KPS) initiated method under microwave irradiation. The emission spectra of adenine grafted agarose and κ-carrageenan were recorded in aqueous (5×10(-5) M) solution, exhibiting λ(em,max) 347 nm by excitation at 261 nm, affording ca. 30% and 40% enhanced emission intensities, respectively compared to that of pure adenine solution in the same concentration. Similar emission intensity was recorded in the pure adenine solution at its molar equivalent concentrations present in the 5×10(-5) M solution of the agarose and carrageenan grafted products, that is, 3.28×10(-5) M and 4.5×10(-5) M respectively. These fluorescent adenine grafted products may have potential utility in various sensor applications.

Profiling of cellulose content in Indian seaweed species.

Cellulose contents were estimated in 12 seaweed samples belonging to different families e.g. red, brown and green, growing in Indian waters. Each cellulose sample was fractionated to yield alpha (alpha) and beta (beta) celluloses. Characterization was done using various analytical tools and results were validated by comparison with those of the cellulose obtained from Whatman filter paper No. 4. The greatest yields of cellulose (crude), alpha- and beta-cellulose were obtained from Gelidiella acerosa (13.65%), Chamaedoris auriculata (9.0%) and G. acerosa (3.10%). G. acerosa was also found to contain relatively high amount of alpha-cellulose (8.19%). The lowest cellulose contents were recorded from Kappaphycus alvarezii (2.00%) and Sarconema scinaioides (2.1%), while the latter contained the lowest alpha-, and beta-celluloses (1.0% and 0.30%, respectively). It appears that agarophytic and alginophytic algae contain high cellulose and alpha-cellulose contents, while the carrageenophyte contains low cellulose. The brown algae, in general contain high cellulose as well as alpha- and beta-celluloses.