3.1 Introduction
An inspiring array of plant-derived materials and products have already been
revealed for the uses in many applications including pharmaceuticals, cosmeceuticals, biomedical, foods, textiles, paints, paper-making, etc. (Ali et al. 2019;
George and Suchithra 2019; Hasnain et al. 2019a; Nayak et al. 2020; Pal et al.
2019a; Sinha Mahapatra et al. 2011; Xie et al. 2016). Amongst the different
plant-derived materials, plant polysaccharides have already been demonstrated as a
useful group of polymeric biomacromolecules possessing some outstanding merits
over the synthetic polymers and these merits include easy availability from the
nature as plant resources are abundant, sustainable and low cost production,
biodegradability, biocompatibility, water solubility, swelling ability, etc. (Nayak
and Hasnain 2019a; Nayak et al. 2018a). The most important reason for the rising
interest for the uses of various plant polysaccharides is the advantages of easy
cultivation and harvesting to offer a constant supply of raw plant materials for the
polysaccharide extractions. Plant polysaccharides are the by-products of photosynthesis within the plants and are being extracted from different parts of the plants,
such as leaves, pods, fruits, seeds, cereals, stems, roots, rhizomes, corms, exudates,
etc. (Prajapati et al. 2013). These are high molecular weight biopolymers possessing
many monosaccharidic units as building blocks, which are linked each other by
O-glycosidic linkages in different patterns (Nayak and Pal 2016). Similar or different monosaccharidic units are arranged as extremely complex molecular structures with the variations in sequences, linkages, branching patterns and distributions
of side chains. In addition, the molecular structural features of plant polysaccharides
possess the presence of many functional groups, which can be modified or tailored
to produce polysaccharides of desirable quality (Nayak and Pal 2018; Nayak et al.
2018b). During past few decades, an extensive volume of research efforts have been
directed to use various plant polysaccharides in many biomedical and medical
applications including their pharmaceutical uses as the dosage formulation excipients and dosage performance enhancers in terms of desired pattern of drug
releasing, improved drug stability, enhanced bioavailability, desired target specificity, etc. (Nayak and Hasnain 2019a; b; Pal and Nayak 2017).
Various useful plant polysaccharides have already been explored and exploited
as biopolymeric agents in many healthcare area including pharmaceutical industry
and researches. Some of the widely used plant polysaccharides as efficient excipients in various kinds of pharmaceutical dosage forms are gum Arabic (Nayak and
Hasnain 2019c), gum tragacanth (Dhupal et al. 2019), pectin (Nayak and Pal 2016),
guar gum (Jana et al. 2019), locust bean gum (Hasnain et al. 2019b; Nayak and
Hasnain 2019d), sterculia gum (Bera et al. 2019; Nayak and Hasnain 2019e),
tamarind gum (Dey et al. 2019; Nayak, 2016; Nayak and Hasnain 2019f), cashew
gum (Nayak et al. 2019), okra gum (Nayak and Hasnain 2019g; Nayak et al.
2018b), gum odina (Samanta et al. 2019), fenugreek seed mucilage (Nayak and
Hasnain 2019h; Pal et al. 2019b), linseed polysaccharides (Nayak and Hasnain
2019i), ispaghula mucilages (Guru et al. 2018), plant starches (Nayak and Pal
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An inspiring array of plant-derived materials and products have already been
revealed for the uses in many applications including pharmaceuticals, cosmeceuticals, biomedical, foods, textiles, paints, paper-making, etc. (Ali et al. 2019;
George and Suchithra 2019; Hasnain et al. 2019a; Nayak et al. 2020; Pal et al.
2019a; Sinha Mahapatra et al. 2011; Xie et al. 2016). Amongst the different
plant-derived materials, plant polysaccharides have already been demonstrated as a
useful group of polymeric biomacromolecules possessing some outstanding merits
over the synthetic polymers and these merits include easy availability from the
nature as plant resources are abundant, sustainable and low cost production,
biodegradability, biocompatibility, water solubility, swelling ability, etc. (Nayak
and Hasnain 2019a; Nayak et al. 2018a). The most important reason for the rising
interest for the uses of various plant polysaccharides is the advantages of easy
cultivation and harvesting to offer a constant supply of raw plant materials for the
polysaccharide extractions. Plant polysaccharides are the by-products of photosynthesis within the plants and are being extracted from different parts of the plants,
such as leaves, pods, fruits, seeds, cereals, stems, roots, rhizomes, corms, exudates,
etc. (Prajapati et al. 2013). These are high molecular weight biopolymers possessing
many monosaccharidic units as building blocks, which are linked each other by
O-glycosidic linkages in different patterns (Nayak and Pal 2016). Similar or different monosaccharidic units are arranged as extremely complex molecular structures with the variations in sequences, linkages, branching patterns and distributions
of side chains. In addition, the molecular structural features of plant polysaccharides
possess the presence of many functional groups, which can be modified or tailored
to produce polysaccharides of desirable quality (Nayak and Pal 2018; Nayak et al.
2018b). During past few decades, an extensive volume of research efforts have been
directed to use various plant polysaccharides in many biomedical and medical
applications including their pharmaceutical uses as the dosage formulation excipients and dosage performance enhancers in terms of desired pattern of drug
releasing, improved drug stability, enhanced bioavailability, desired target specificity, etc. (Nayak and Hasnain 2019a; b; Pal and Nayak 2017).
Various useful plant polysaccharides have already been explored and exploited
as biopolymeric agents in many healthcare area including pharmaceutical industry
and researches. Some of the widely used plant polysaccharides as efficient excipients in various kinds of pharmaceutical dosage forms are gum Arabic (Nayak and
Hasnain 2019c), gum tragacanth (Dhupal et al. 2019), pectin (Nayak and Pal 2016),
guar gum (Jana et al. 2019), locust bean gum (Hasnain et al. 2019b; Nayak and
Hasnain 2019d), sterculia gum (Bera et al. 2019; Nayak and Hasnain 2019e),
tamarind gum (Dey et al. 2019; Nayak, 2016; Nayak and Hasnain 2019f), cashew
gum (Nayak et al. 2019), okra gum (Nayak and Hasnain 2019g; Nayak et al.
2018b), gum odina (Samanta et al. 2019), fenugreek seed mucilage (Nayak and
Hasnain 2019h; Pal et al. 2019b), linseed polysaccharides (Nayak and Hasnain
2019i), ispaghula mucilages (Guru et al. 2018), plant starches (Nayak and Pal
94
A. K. Nayak et al.