Structure and molecular weight of Asian lacquer polysaccharides

Structural analysis of Asian lacquer polysaccharides in Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Taiwan, and Japan was carried out by a combination of chemical and physical methods, and then their structures were compared with that of a Chinese lacquer polysaccharide reported previously. It was found that the structure of polysaccharides in China and Japan, Taiwan and Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia, was similar to each other. The polysaccharides in Myanmar and Cambodia had larger amounts of L-arabinose and L-rhamnose than those in other Asian lacquer polysaccharides. In addition, the degradation process of lacquer polysaccharide was revealed for the first time by the time-course of GPC measurements of polysaccharide in Aizu, Japan. The results suggest that the molecular weight of polysaccharide in lacquer tree had around (M) over bar (n) = 67 x 10(3) with narrow molecular weight distribution and then decreased gradually into two molecular weight fractions of (M) over bar (n) = 67 x 10(3) and 23 x 10(3) in the proportion of 25 and 75 mol% isolated after 3 weeks. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier Ltd.