Galactan (galactosan) is a polysaccharide 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 molecu ...

. 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 ...

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