This document defines gums and mucilage, and discusses several common plant gums - tragacanth, acacia, sodium alginate, agar, and pectin. It provides information on the biological source, description, preparation method, chemical constituents, and uses of each gum. Tragacanth is obtained from Astragalus shrubs and is used as a suspending agent. Acacia gum comes from Acacia trees and is used as an emulsifier. Sodium alginate is derived from brown seaweed and is a thickening and stabilizing agent. Agar is obtained from red algae and is used in microbiology and food applications. Pectin comes from cit

2. PRESENTED BY:
ANAMKHALID

3.  Gums definition
 Mucilage definition
 Difference b/w gum &mucilage
 Tragacanth
 Acacia
 Sodium Alginate
 Agar
 Pectin
 References

4.  Colloidal polysaccharide substances of plant
origin that are gelatinous when moist but
harden on drying and are salts of complex
organic acids.

5.  A gelatinous substance of various plants
(such as legumes or seaweeds) that contains
protein and polysaccharides and is similar to
plant gums.

6. GUMS
 Readily dissolve in water.
 Pathological products.
MUCILAGE
 Form slippery masses in
water & swell.
 Physiological products.

7. Synonym: Gum Tragacanth
Biological Source: Astragalus gummifer Labill.
Part used: Dried gummy exudation
Family: Leguminoseae
Geographical distribution: Iran, Iraq, India, Armenia,
Syria, Greece and Turkey

8. Description:
 Colour: White or pale
 Odour: Odourless
 Taste: Tasteless
 Shape: Curved or twisted ribbon like flakes
 Fracture: short and horny.
 Appearance: Translucent

9.  Collection:
Incisions  cell wall of pith & medullary rays
converted to gum Gum absorbs water 
Internal pressure created within stem 
Gum exudes  Dries upon exposure to air
 Collected

10. CONSTITUENTS:
 a.Water-soluble Tragacanthin (30-40%)
 b.Water insoluble Bassorin (60-70%)

11. Uses
 Demulcent in throat preparations.
 Emolient in cosmetics
 Pharmaceutical aid as a suspending agent for
insoluble and heavy powders in mixtures.
 Binding agent for the preparation of tablets and
pills.
 Emulsifying agent for oils and waxes.
 In making medicinal jellies e.g., spermicidal jelly.
 Stabilizer for making ice-creams and various types of
sauces.
 As adhesives.

12. Synonyms : Indian Gum, Gum Acacia, Gum Arabic.
Biological source: Acacia senegal
Acacia arabica
Part used: Dried gummy exudation
Family: Leguminoseae
Geographical distribution: India, Arabia, Sudan , Sri Lanka,
Morocco, and Senegal.

13. Description
 Colour:
Tears: white, pale-yellow or creamish-
brown to red in colour.
Powder: off-white, pale-yellow or light-
brown
 Odour: Odourless.
 Taste: Bland and mucillagenous.
 Shape : Tears mostly spheroidal or ovoid in
shape
 Size: Diameter =2.5-3.0 cm.

14. PREPERATION:
From Wild Plants:
Gum collected.
Freed from small bits of bark
& other foreign organic
matter
Dried in sun.

15. Transverse incisions are inflicted on the bark.
Gum exude out of the incision
Upon oxidation, the gum get solidified in the form
small translucent beads, referred to as “tears”.
Tears of gum normally become apparent in 2-3
weeks
Gum is hand pick and collected in leather bags and
garbled. Gum can be ripened by exposure to sun
light, it can also be spray dried.
From Cultivated Plants:

16. CONSTITUENTS:
 Arabin
 Arabinose
 Rhamnose
 Glacturonic acid
 Glucuronic acid
 Water (12-15%)
 Enzymes (oxidases, peroxidases)
·

18. USES:
 Demulscent.
 Pharmaceutical aid for emulsification.
 Thickening agent.
 Binding agent for tablets..
 For microencapsulation of drugs in
conjuction with gelatin
 colloidal stabilizer.
 Making of candy and other food products.

19. Synonyms: Alginic acid sodium; Sodium polymannuronate;
Kelgin; Minus; Protanal
.
Biological source: sodium salt of Alginic acid obtained from algal
species of
-Macrocystic pyrifera
-Laminaria hyperborea
-Ascophyllum nodosum
Family: Phaeophyceae
Geographical Distribution: Atlantic and Pacific oceans
In India the Western coast of Saurashtra

20. Description
 Colour : Yellowish-white, cream coloured,
buff coloured
 Odour : Odourless
 Taste : Tasteless
 Solubility: Freely soluble in water
Insoluble in other organic solvents.
 Viscosity : 20-400 centipoises.
(A 1% (w/v) aq. Sol. at 20°C )

21.  PREPERATION:

22. CONSTITUENTS:
 comprised of D-mannuronic acid residues.
Upon methylation and hydrolysis gives rise
to 2,3 dimethyl-D- mannuronide.

23. USES:
1. Manufacture of ice-creams as a stabilizing colloid.
2. Flocculation of suspended solids in most water
treatment plants.
3. Stabilizing and thickening agent in food and
pharmaceutical industry.
4. As a film and film-forming agent in the rubber and
paint industry.
5. In the textile industry as absorbable haemostatic
dressings.
6. As a binding and distintegrating agent for tablets
and lozenges.

24. Synonyms: Agar-agar, Japanese isinglass.
Biological source:
i. Gelidium amansii Lamouroux
ii. Gelidium cartilagineum Gall
iii. Gelidium pristoidesTurn Kiitz
iv. Gelidium conferoides Greville
v. Pterocladia lucid J. Ag.
vi. Pterocladia capillaceae.
Family: Gelidiaceae, Rhodophyceae (red Algae).
Geographical source: Japan, Korea, South Africa, U.S.A., China,
Indonesia, Australia and India.

25. Macroscopical characters:
i. Form:
Thin, membranous strips or flattened bands.
ii. Colour:
Colourless, translucent, greyish yellow.
iii. Size:
30 to 50 cm length and 4 mm wide.
iv. Surface:
Coiled.
v. Odour:
None.
vi.Taste :
Mucilaginous.

26.  PREPERATION:
Algae is removed, dried, beaten and shaken
to remove shell and sand.
algae are bleached by exposure to sun light
or washing with water.
Boiled with acidulated water for few hours.
Mucilaginous mass is filtered while hot then
cooled.
jelly is formed and cut into bars.

27. Bars are forced through wire
netting and strips are formed.
Dried in sunlight and freezing
and thawing remove moisture.
Agar is dried at 35°C.

28. COMPOSITION:
Heterogeneous polysaccharides consisting of
two components
(a) Agarose (70%)
(b) Agaropectin:

30. USES:
1. As a bulk laxative.
2. Preparation of vaginal capsules and
suppositories
3.To prepare nutrient media in bacteriological
culture.
4. In industrial applications like emulsion,
sizing, silk textiles, adhesives and
thickening ice cream.

31. BIOLOGICAL SOURCE:
 Citrus limon
Citrus aurantium
 Malus sylvestris Mill
FAMILY :
 Rutaceae
 Rosaceae
GEOGRAPHICAL SOURCE:
 Lemon and oranges  India, Africa and other tropical countries.
 Apple  Himalayas, California & many European countries.
PART USED:
Inner part of the rind of citrus peels.
Apple pomace.

32. Description
 Appearance : Coarse or fine- powder
 Colour :Yellowish white
 Odour : Practically odourless
 Taste : Mucilaginous taste
 Solubility :
1. Completely soluble in 20 parts of water
forming a solution containing negatively
charged and very much hydrated particles.
2. Dissolves more swiftly in water, if previously
moistened with sugar syrup, alcohol, glycerol
or if first mixed with 3 or more parts of sucrose.

33. Chemical Constituents
 Pectin occurs naturally as the partial methyl
ester of a (1→4) linked (+) – polygalacturonate
sequences interrupted with (1–2) – (–) –
rhamnose residues.
 The neutral sugars that essentially form the
side chains on the pectin molecules are namely:
(+) – galactose,
(–) –arabinose,
(+) – xylose, and
(–) – fructose.

35.  Uses
1. As an intestinal demulscent.
2. As a pharmaceutical aid pectin is used
-As an emulsifying agent
-As a gelling agent preferably in an acidic medium.
3. Preparation of jellies and similar food products e.g., jams, sauces,
ketchups.
4. Poectin in the form of pastes exerts a bacteriostatic activity
-In the treatment of indolent ulcers
-In the treatment of deep wounds.
5. Pectin and gelatin  as an encapsulating agent.
(sustained-release characteristics.)

36.  https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gum
 http://www.epharmacognosy.com/2012/03/acaciaindian-gum-
gum-acacia-gum-arabic.html
 http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/biology/carbohydrates/agar-
sources-preparation-and-uses/49563
 http://www.pharmacy180.com/article/sodium-alginate-103/