Table 1.

The alginates used in this study with some of their characteristics.

	Alginate source	Molecular weight	F(G)	F(M)	N(G > 1)	Lipase inhibition (%)
1	Mannuronan (treated with epimerase)	423,767	0.8	0.2	44	72.2
2	Mannuronan (treated with epimerase)	262,400	0.7	0.3	7	41.5
3	Mannuronan (treated with epimerase)	374,800	0.68	0.32	22	59.1
4	Seaweed (treated with epimerase)	251,220	0.68	0.32	9	56.1
5	Seaweed L. hyperborea SF200	387,000	0.68	0.322	16.7	55.6
6	Seaweed (treated with epimerase)	226,550	0.67	0.33	9	62.4
7	Seaweed L. hyperborea SF120	195,000	0.664	0.336	9.6	53.7
8	Seaweed L. hyperborea SF/LF	295,000	0.66	0.336	13.8	56.3
9	Seaweed L. hyperborea LFR5/60	34,700	0.633	0.367	9.9	52.5
10	Mannuronan (treated with epimerase)	211,833	0.62	0.38	8	60.2
11	Mannuronan (treated with epimerase)	202,000	0.62	0.38	5	58.4
12	Mannuronan (treated with epimerase)	194,833	0.54	0.46	4	60.8
13	Mannuronan (treated with epimerase)	436,767	0.52	0.48	11	62.4
14	Seaweed Laminaria hyperborea	260,600	0.49	0.51	9	50.2
15	Mannuronan (treated with epimerase)	456,733	0.47	0.53	0	-2.3
16	Seaweed L. nigrescens LF10L	75,000	0.45	0.553	4.4	10.4
17	Seaweed L. nigrescens H120L	397,000	0.45	0.551	5.9	28.3
18	Mannuronan (treated with epimerase)	442,367	0.44	0.56	8	64.5
19	Seaweed L. nigrescens LF120L	221,000	0.424	0.576	4.7	15.8
20	Seaweed L. nigrescens SF60	325,000	0.411	0.589	3.3	35.6
21	Seaweed Durvillea potatorum	241,067	0.35	0.65	4	33.5
22	Mannuronan (treated with epimerase)	438,733	0.17	0.83	0	38.5
23	Bacterial mannuronan	584,400	0	1	0	53.2

Molecular weight is in Daltons, F(G) and F(M) are the fraction of guluronate and mannuronate residues present in the polymer determined by NMR. N(G > 1) is the number of consecutive guluronate residues in the alginate polymer.