Isolation and structure analysis of a glucomannan from the seeds of Libyan dates.

Polysaccharides extracted from seeds of Libyan dates with hot ethanol 80% (FI) and 0.1 M phosphate solution (FII) were fractionated and purified by ion-exchange and gel-filtration chromatography. According to methylation and hydrolysis analysis, the main chains of FI and FII consisted of (1→4)-linked glucomannan; only traces of branched sugar residues were detected. This is the first report on the isolation of glucomannan from date seeds. Keywords: Polysaccharides; Libyan dates (Phoenix dactylifera); seeds; glucomannan