Preparation of alpha-l-fucosides and l-fucose from fucoidan

Claim 1

A METHOD OF PREPARING AN L-FUCOSE COMPRISING THE STEPS OF: INTERMIXING SUBSTANTIALLY PURE FUCOIDANAND A QUANTITY OF HYDROGEN CHLORIDE TOGETHER WITH AN ALCOHOL, SAID ALCOHOL BEING SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF METHYL, ETHYL, ISOPROPYL, BURYL, AMYL AND CYCLIC ALCOHOLS, AND SAID QUANTITY CONSISTING OF AT LEAST 20 GRAMS PER LITER OF ALCOHOL, SEALING SAID MIXTURE IN A PRESSURIZED VESSELAND HEATING IT TO A TEMPERATURE OF FROM ABOUT 50* TO ABOUT 80*C. FOR A PERIOD OF TIME SUFFICIENT TO PERMIT SUBSTANTIAL DEPOLYMERIZATION AND REMOVAL OF THE SULPHATE GROUPS IN SAID FUCOIDAN, AND THEREAFTER, COOLING SAID MIXTURE, REMOVING IT FROM SAID PRESSURE VESSEL AND NEUTRALIZING IT, THENFILTERING SAID RESULTANT MIXTURE, THEREAFTER CONCENTRATING THE FILTRATE BY EVAPORATION, DILUTING THE RESULTING SYRUP WITH WATER AND SUBJECTING THIS MIXTURE TO ACID HYDROLYSIS TO DERIVE L-FUCOSE.