Guar Gum A Potential Material For Pharmacological And Industrial Application

Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub, familiarly called guar, is a drought-tolerant leguminous crop, cultivated throughout the semi-arid and sub-tropical areas of the world. Plant pods, leaves, and stems possess a variety of pharmacological activities such as anti-diabetic, anti-alzheimer, anti-ulcer, antioxidant, anti-dengue, anti-cancer, and so on. Guar gum is a noval agrochemical refined from the seed endosperm of clusterbean; this complex polysaccharide is made of D-mannose and D-galactose monosaccharide units. This hydroxyl group-rich polymer establishes hydrogen bonds with water molecules, thus making it a good thickening and stabilising agent. Innocuous, budget-friendly, and easily available polysaccharides join other components in either functionalized or unmodified forms to create a variety of nanocomposites. These nanocomposites are used as an ingredient in the culinary, pharmaceutical, paper, textile, explosive, oil, and cosmetic industries and also for the removal of water impurities. The chemically modified guar gum is used in pharmaceuticals as a vehicle to carry drugs and for the adsorption or degradation of heavy metals, dyes, and organic pollutants. The Guar gum derivatives are also used as a green binder and separator for sodium and lithium ion batteries. This review is an effort to focus on the processing, pharmacological activities, and application of Guar gum and its nanocomposites.