Pectin from Three Vietnamese Seagrasses: Isolation, Characterization and Antioxidant Activity

This study focused on the isolation and structural characterization of pectin from three distinct species of Vietnamese seagrass including Enhalus acoroides, Thalassia hemprichii, and Halophila ovalis. The pectin yield obtained from Enhalus acoroides was the highest, corresponding to 24.15%, followed by those from Thalassia hemprichii (20.04%) and Halophila ovalis (19.14%). The physicochemical properties of pectin including total carbohydrate content, anhydrouronic acid (AUA) content, equivalent weight (EW), methoxyl content (MeO), and degree of esterification (DE) were determined using various analysis techniques. The pectin obtained from all three species were found to be low-methyl-esterified pectin, with the MeO content and DE for E. acoroides, T. hemprichii, and H. ovalis being 6.15% and 27.18%, 3.26% and 43.31%, and 4.65% and 33.25%, respectively. The average molecular weight (MW) of pectin was analyzed by size-exclusion chromatography. Pectin from T. hemprichii had the highest MW of 173.01 kDa, followed by pectin from E. acoroides, with a MW of 127.32 kDa, and that from H. ovalis, with a MW of 56.06 kDa. Furthermore, the pectins from all three seagrass species exhibited high antioxidant activity and might be promising as antioxidants.