Glucans

Glucans are oligosaccharides or polysaccharides that are only made up of D- glucose molecules and are linked to one another by glycosidic bonds . Analogously, there is the substance group of fructans from fructose - monomers , and galactans from galactose monomers.

Types

A classification can be made according to the type of glycosidic bond:

Alpha glucans

The following glucans have an α-glycosidic bond:

• Dextran , α-1,6-glucan + Glc branching (α-1,4 / 1,2 / 1,3)
• Mutan , α-1,6-glucan
• Glycogen , α-1,4- and α-1,6-glucan
• Pullulan , α-1,4 and α-1,6 glucan
• Starch , α-1,4- and α-1,6-glucan (amylose, amylopectin)

Beta glucans

Example of a β-glucan, curdlan; the beta-glucan bonds are highlighted

The following beta-glucans have a β-glycosidic bond and are partly of importance in medicine :

• Cellulose , β-1,4-glucan
• Chitin , β-1,4-glucan
• Curdlan , β-1,3-glucan
• Laminarin , β-1,3- and β-1,6-glucan
• Chrysolaminarin , β-1,3-glucan
• Lentinan , a purified β-1,6: β-1,3-glucan isolated from Lentinula edodes
• Lichenine , β-1,3- and β-1,4-glucan
• Pleurane , β-1,3- and β-1,6-glucan isolated from Pleurotus ostreatus
• Zymosan , β-1,3-glucan
• Schizophyllan , β-1,3- and β-1,6-glucan
• Scleroglucan , β-1,3- and β-1,6-glucan

Individual evidence

1. ↑ MeSH glucans
2. ↑ Munenori Numata, Teruaki Hasegawa, Tomohisa Fujisawa, Kazuo Sakurai, Seiji Shinkai: β-1,3-Glucan (Schizophyllan) Can Act as a One-Dimensional Host for Creation of Novel Poly (aniline) Nanofiber Structures . In: Organic Letters , 6 (24), 2004, pp. 4447-4450, doi : 10.1021 / ol0483448 .
3. ↑ Tommasina Coviello, Antonio Palleschi, Mario Grassi, Pietro Matricardi, Gianfranco Bocchinfuso, Franco Alhaique: Scleroglucan: A Versatile Polysaccharide for Modified Drug Delivery . In: Molecules , 10 (1), 2005, pp. 6-33, doi : 10.3390 / 10010006 .