Modern Approaches to the Analysis of Kelp (Laminaria sp.) as Pharmacopoeial Herbal Drugs and Food Products

Background: Currently, the chemical composition of Laminaria J.V. Lamour. species is well studied; they have found applications in the food, cosmeceutical and pharmaceutical industries. The main groups of biologically active compounds are polysaccharides (alginic acid, laminarin, mannitol, fucoidan, and others) and minerals (iodine compounds, magnesium, potassium, calcium, iron) that are determined according to pharmacopoeial and All-Union State Standards requirements. Materials and Methods: For data obtaining various types of search tools and engines such as Google, Google scholar, scientific literature (including Russian sources), normative documentation of Russian Federation (State Pharmacopoeia of Russian Federation IV edition, All-Union State Standards, and others) electronic databases such as e-Library, Scopus, Web of Science, Pubmed were used. Results: In the course of this review study, a modern characteristic of the kelp thallus as a pharmaceutical, cosmeceutical, food substance of plant origin is presented. The data on the chemical composition, harvesting, and processing of raw materials are summarized. The standardization and safety issues of kelp thallus are considered taking into account modern pharmacopoeial and food international requirements. The approaches to the qualitative and quantitative analysis of biologically active compounds (polysaccharides, iodine) and the determination of safety indicators are studied. Conclusions: The regulatory documentation that is used in the quality control of kelp needs to be finalized and updated. For pharmacopoeial analysis, all possible physicochemical methods (gravimetric, titrimetric, spectrophotometric) should be presented in the newly approved monograph. In this case, modern procedures should be developed, including HPLC with various types of detection (determination of the carbohydrates profile and polysaccharides, including methods with acid and enzyme hydrolysis). This will ensure the required level of quality, the safety of kelp (Laminaria) raw materials.