Polysaccharides characterize structurally with long chains of residue of sugar/monosaccharide, unlike oligosaccharide that possess 3-10 units’ simple sugars. This reveals structural complexity that exists in macromolecular polysaccharide. They may be linear or branched structural form.
1.1.2. Sources and Chemical Structures of polysaccharide
Generally, polysaccharide displayed great diversity in both source and chemical structure. Higher organisms such as animals (marine), plants, algae, fungi, and bacteria inherently produce polysaccharide (Shi, 2016). Thus, sources of polysaccharide are very numerous and being common globally.
Table 1.1: Sources and Structural Units for Various Polysaccharide biopolymers
S/No Name Source Structural Unit Chain type Bond (Glycoside) Ref.
1. Starch Plant Glucan Branch Mostly D-(1:4) and Limited D-(1:6) on branched side
2. Cellulose Plant Glucan Linear Only D-(1:4)
3. Hemicellulose Plant
4. Chitin Animal N-acetylglucosamine Linear D-(1:4) (Abdel-Rahman et al., 2015)
5. Mucilage (Taro) Plant
6. Gum (Guar) Plant
7. Pectins
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