Ultrasound assisted comparative study of fucolam and so-dium alginate and impact on their physiochemical proper-ties using Box-Behnken Design

Abstract

Abstract The article discusses about the possibility of comparing the impact of ultrasonic treatment on fucolam and sodium algi-nate. The purpose was to study the effect of micronization on the sulfated heteropolysaccharide fucolam, analyzing its dispersed state and accessibility by reducing its molecular weight and increasing antioxidant activity. The optimization of the micronization process was carried out using the Box-Behnken Design (BBD) method, with a sonication time ranging from 15 to 45 min, power ranging from 50 to 100 W/cm2, and temperature between 30 °C and 40 °C. The fixed lower fucolam concentration was 0.1%. The results illustrated that sonochemical treatment significantly decreased the molecular weight (Mw) of fucolam compared to sodium alginate. Using BBD, the ideal treatment conditions for fu-colam were 31 °C, 62 W/cm2, and 36 min, resulting in a lower molecular weight (180 kDa), particle size (231 nm), and antioxidant activity (AOA) of 81% compared to sodium alginate, which had an Mw of 2046 kDa and an AOA of 43%. Antioxidant activity tests showed a significant increase due to the sonication treatment. The findings suggest that soni-cation treatment may be a valuable strategy to lower fucolam levels with minimal structural damage, as observed in scanning microscope images