Antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of pectins from some plants of the European North of Russia

The residues of galacturonic acid, arabinose, and galactose were shown to be the main constituents of the pectin sugar chains of plants distributed in the European North of Russia. The pectin polysaccharides isolated were found to possess substantial antioxidant activity which depends additionally on the presence of phenolic concomitants and ferulic acid residue constituents of polysaccharides. In addition, pectin polysaccharides were shown to possess significant bactericidal activity.