Marine Mannitol: Extraction, Structures, Properties, and Applications

Mannitol is the most abundant polyol in nature and has wide commercial applications due to its properties in the food, chemical, medical, and pharmaceutical industries. Mannitol was traditionally produced from kelp, but this process was eliminated due to high water and energy consumption and gradually replaced by methods with less energy consumption and environmentally friendly practices. Studies show that brown seaweed contains large amounts of mannitol. Therefore, this paper intends to describe the structure of this sugar alcohol present in brown algae, its commercial production, and its biosynthetic pathway in algae, as well as its medical and nutritional applications.