Ipomoea digitata Seed Gum and the Gum-g-polyacrylamide: Potential Pharmaceutical Gums

Abstract

Ipomoea digitata plant is reported to be highly medicinal, and its seeds were found to contain a substantial amount of seed gum. Owing to the high medicinal and industrial importance of the seed gums in general and the high medicinal value of the plant itself, seed gum from I. digitata was subjected to phytochemical investigations. The seed gum has been found to have a structure and properties similar to guar gum and locust bean gum - gums of pharmaceutical importance. The gum was found to have a linear chain of β (1 → 4) linked mannopyranosyl residues, and α-D-galactose units are attached to some of the mannopyranosyl units glycosidically. As guar-g-polyacrylamide hydrogel is reported to be used in water transport and drug release, graft copolymerization of I. digitata seed gum was carried out with acrylamide using potassium persulfate/ascorbic acid redox initiator and Ag⁺ ions as catalyst, and the grafted gum was found to have higher viscosity and shelf life. Ipomoea digitata seed gum and its graft copolymer with polyacrylamide has potential to be used as a pharmaceutical gum.

Keywords: :

• Ipomoea Digitata
• Gum-g-polyacrylamide
• Pharamaceutical Gums
• Seed Gum