Structural characterization of natural ideal 6-O-sulfated agarose from red alga Gloiopeltis furcata

A charge and size uniform polysaccharide GW2M was extracted with cold water from red alga Gloiopeltis furcata and purified by strong anion ion-exchange and gel permeation chromatography. Its chemical structure was identified by methylation, 1H–1H COSY, 1H–13C HMQC and 1H–13C HMBC techniques. The experimental data showed that GW2M was composed of galactose (40.3%), 3,6-anhydro-galactose (34.1%) and sulfate (24.8%) with an average molecular mass of 20.6 kDa. The results proved GW2M was a linear repeating sequence of alternating (1 → 3)-linked 6-O-sulfated-β-d-galactose (G6S) and (1 → 4)-linked 3,6-anhydro-α-l-galactose (A) which made it to be an ideal 6-O-sulfated-agarose. The sequences of serial oligosaccharides prepared by mild acid and reductive acid hydrolysis from GW2M were confirmed using electrospray collision induced dissociation tandem mass spectrometry (ES-CID-MS/MS) technique.