Inulin etherification

Inulin etherification products have utility in cosmetics or pharmaceuticals as carriers for water-insoluble substances or to stabilize aqueous solutions of compounds with low water solubility. They may also be used as emulsifiers or as an additive in textiles and paper and as softeners of thermoplastic polymers (Kunz and Begli, 1995). 

Etherification of inulin with O-carboxymethyl groups forms a polycarboxylate (Chien et al., 1979) that can be further modified to facilitate its conjugation with erythrocytes for immunological assays. Even with an excess of monochloroacetate, products with a degree of substitution of only about... 

As an answer to the growing demand for products made from renewable resources and with (modified) starch as a reference in mind, a lot of these starches have been devoted to the chemical modification of inulin [3]. Hydrophobization of inulin, e.g. grafting of alkyl chains on to the inulin backbone and as such obtaining an inulin derivative showing the wanted amphiphilic character, can be done in several ways by esterification, by etherification or by carbamoylation. The reactions are usually performed in solvents like pyridine, dimethylformamide or dimethylsulfoxide, using catalysts like, for example, sodium acetate, potassium carbonate or triethylamine. 

Esterification can be carried out using conventional reactions with acid chloride or with acid anhydrides. The etherification of inulin can be done using alkylepoxides as reactant. Carbamoylation reactions using alkyl isocyanate can be performed, obtaining inulin carbamates. 

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See also in sourсe #XX -- [ ]

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