Polysaccharide molecular weight methods

Further measurements appear necessary before the molecular weights of the amylopectin component of starches can be adequately characterized, and it may well be that light-scattering is the only method which can be satisfactorily applied to these polysaccharides of very high molecular weight. Certainly, it is the only method which enables studies of very dilute solutions to be made with high accuracy, particularly in the case of aqueous solutions. 

Low-volatility natural organic material such as polysaccharides and higher molecular weight proteins sometimes produced low results. In the Hannaker and Buchanan method [82] these problems are overcome by using a solution-phase oxidant and enclosing the system in a sealed tube. In this way all of the constituents are fully contained and exposed to oxidation and, moreover, oxidation of the organic matter to carbon dioxide is complete for the greater majority of compounds. 

Thus the Endgroup analysis method is quite useful for the determination of the Molecular weight of the polymers that possesses endgroups which can be determined precisely by some analytical reaction. In addition to Polyamides and polyesters, where the Endgroup analysis method is commonly used, the method can also be used for polysaccharides. 

The molecular-weight distribution of a sample of a glucan, pul-lulan, isolated from cultures of the fungus Pullularia pullulans grown in sucrose solutions,"6 was determined by Granath and Kvist69 by the method developed by these workers for use with dextrans. Here, too, the column was calibrated with dextran fractions, as the shape of the pullulan molecule was believed to be sufficiently similar to that of a dextran to permit use of the same correlation of Kav with molecular weight for both polysaccharides. 

The work discussed in this article serves to illustrate the applicability of gel chromatography to a wide variety of carbohydrates. The technique can be used not only as a means of fractionation but also, provided that the relationship between molecular weight and such other molecular parameters as size and shape remains constant, as a method of estimating the molecular weights of polysaccharides. Often, information derived from gel chromatography has proved useful in structural elucidation. 

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