Structural investigation of Ceratozamia spinosa mucilage.

The polysaccharide fraction from Ceratozamia spinosa appears to be made up mainly by a chemically homogeneous polysaccharide but with a wide range of molecular weight. By NMR and chemical degradative methods, it is shown to consist essentially of a backbone of alternate-->4)-beta-D-GlcpA-(1-->and-->2)-alpha-D-Manp-(1--> units. On the 4 position of the latter, beta-D-GlcpA residues are linked. End units of alpha-L-Araf, beta-D-Xylp, alpha-L-Rhap, and alpha-L-3-OMe-Rhap are linked to C-3 and/or C-4 positions of beta-D-GlcpA residues.