Galactan (galactosan) is a

polysaccharide Polysaccharides (), or polycarbohydrates, are the most abundant carbohydrates found in food. They are long chain polymeric carbohydrates composed of monosaccharide units bound together by glycosidic linkages. This carbohydrate can react with wa ...

consisting of

polymerized In polymer chemistry, polymerization (American English), or polymerisation (British English), is a process of reacting monomer molecules together in a chemical reaction to form polymer chains or three-dimensional networks. There are many for ...

galactose Galactose (, '' galacto-'' + '' -ose'', "milk sugar"), sometimes abbreviated Gal, is a monosaccharide sugar that is about as sweet as glucose, and about 65% as sweet as sucrose. It is an aldohexose and a C-4 epimer of glucose. A galactose molec ...

. In general, galactans in natural sources contain a core of galactose units connected by α(1→3) or α(1→6), with structures containing other

monosaccharides Monosaccharides (from Greek ''monos'': single, '' sacchar'': sugar), also called simple sugars, are the simplest forms of sugar and the most basic units (monomers) from which all carbohydrates are built. They are usually colorless, water-solu ...

as side-chains. Galactan derived from '' Anogeissus latifolia'' is primarily α(1→6), but galactan from

acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus na ...

trees is primarily α(1→3). '' Halymenia durvillei'' is a red seaweed (algae) with a great potential as sulphated galactan producer. Several other alga species also contain galactans. Including '' Carpopeltis .I.J. Miller and J. Mollion, Evaluation of the structures of galactans from ''Carpopeltis'' sp. a member of the Halymeniales in the western Indian Ocean, Bot. Mar., 49 (2006) 79-85

References

Carbohydrates {{biochemistry-stub

See also

References