Large-scale purification of water-soluble polysaccharides from flaxseed mucilage, and isolation of a new anionic polymer

Viscous flaxseed mucilage has previously been described as a mixture of two polysaccharides (acidic and neutral). In this study, we have shown that a combination of ion exchange and size exclusion chromatography enables purification of three distinct polysaccharides. Molecular weight (Mw) analysis, performed by size-exclusion chromatography on line with a multi-angle laser light-scattering detector, revealed that the main polysaccharide (75%) was a neutral polymer with a Mw of approximately 1.2 x 10(6) g mol(-1). The two others were acidic polysaccharides denoted AF(1) (3.75%, 6.5 x 10(5) g mol(-1)) and AF(2) (21.25%, 1.7 x 10(4) g mol(-1)).