CHEMICAL STUDIES ON PLANT GUMS FOUND IN SRI LANKA

Abstract

Attached

The gum of Moringa oleifera (Murunga), Acacia chundra (Kihiriya) and Feronia limonia (Divul) were selected for the study of their chemistry and applications. TLC and HPLC analysis was performed for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the monomer constituents of the polysaccharides. In gums of Moringa, D-galactose (41.5%), L-arabinose (26.9%), D-xylose (25.9%), L-charnose (5.6%) and D-glucuronic acid (traces) were found to be present as the monosaccharide units. In gum of Kihiriya, the purified polysaccharide consisted of D-galactose (32.75%), L-arabinose (38.2%) and D-glucuronic acid (29.15%). In the gum of Divul D-galactose (36.4%), L-arabinose (34.2%), D-xylose (6.1%) and D-glucuronic acid (23.3%) were present as the monomer constituents. TLC, PC and UV-VIS spectra showed that gum of Moringa contained cyaniding as the anthocyanidin where in Kihiriya the anthocyanidin was identified as pelargonidin. In Divul the phenolic fraction did not contain any anthocyanidin. Several tests were done in order to evaluate for their adhesive, emulsifying and suspending properties. Instrone tensometer was used to evaluate the adhesive properties of the three gums. Dilution test, dye solubility test, microscopic examination and the possibility of reconstitution tests were done for the feasibility studies on use of these gums as emulsifiers. The sedimentation volume and the redispersion number was tested to evaluate the use of these gums as suspending agents.