Solvents for polysaccharides

An underlying assumption is that dextran is a representative polysaccharide source and that results derived frcan studying its modification can be directly applied to other sources of polysaccharides. If dextran can be successfully modified utilizing a specific reaction system, other polysaccharides can likewise be modified utilizing the same reaction system if that particular polysaccharide is soluble in the given reaction phase utilized. Thus, a key to the transfer of the results from this study to other polysaccharides, and to the successful "intimate" modification of dextran, is to achieve solution of the particular polysaccharide. The literature has been scanned for suitable potential solvents for polysaccharides. 

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