The polysaccharide from Dasyclonium incisum was found to be an agar-ty
pe polymer, in which the 2-hydroxyl group on the 3,6-anhydrogalactosyl
unit is partially substituted by a methyl ether, and the 4-hydroxyl g
roup on the galactosyl unit is almost completely replaced by a sulphat
e ester group. Minor levels of other substitution patterns were also d
etected, including single branching xylose residues. Techniques used i
n determining the structure include selective hydrolysis, reductive hy
drolysis followed by saccharide composition and methylation analysis,
infrared and C-13-NMR spectroscopy.