Polysaccharide interchain interaction

POLYELECTROLYTIC ASPECTS OF CONFORMATIONAL TRANSITIONS AND INTERCHAIN INTERACTIONS IN IONIC POLYSACCHARIDE SOLUTIONS COMPARISON OF THEORY AND MICROCALORIMETRIC DATA... 

Conformational changes are easily followed by optical rotation (Hui and Neukom, 1964). Circular dichroism spectroscopy (CD) of polysaccharides (Morris, 1994) exploits optical anisotropy. In a CD instrumental design, the clockwise and counterclockwise rotation of two polarized beams of equal intensity, traversing a 180° path through a chiroptical medium, display a molar ellipticity maximum and minimum. CD is the differential measurement as a function of X. By CD spectroscopy, mixed interchain association rather than nonspecific incompatibility or exclusion was identified as the molecular basis of alginate-polyguluronate interaction (Thom et al., 1982). 

In addition, because of the presence of —OH groups, natural polysaccharides may be modified by controlled chemical reaction to give derivatives with new specific properties industrial derivatives are mainly obtained from cellulose (qv), starch (qv), and chitin and chitosan (qv). The presence of these —OH functional groups is also the origin of interaction with water molecules (hydrophilic character of oligo- and polysaccharides) and intra- and interchain H-bond network formation playing a role in reactivity control, swelling, or dissolution rate. 

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