Figure 1.

Representative image of brown seaweeds (phaeophyceae) and chemical structures of derived polysaccharides. (A) Photograph of the brown seaweed laminaria digitata, which is a commons source for the polysaccharide laminarin. The inset image shows the cross section of the holdfast from the brown seaweed laminaria hyperborean. Photographs courtesy of David Fenwick, used with permission¹. (B) Chemical structure of fucoidan derived from brown seaweeds. (C) Structure of laminarin sulfate, a chemically modified version of laminarin that is commonly derived from seaweeds of the family Laminariaceae. (D) Chemical structure of alginate, which is derived from the cell wall of brown seaweeds.