Comparative studies on solution characteristics of mannuronan epimerized by C-5 epimerases

• Published in: Carbohydrate polymers Vol. 59; no. 4; pp. 489 - 499
• Main Authors: Dentini, M., Rinaldi, G., Risica, D., Barbetta, A., Skjåk-Bræk, G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 15-03-2005; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Alginate; alginates; Applied sciences; Exact sciences and technology; Flexibility of polysaccharides; mannans; mannuronan; Mannuronan C-5 epimerases; molecular conformation; Natural polymers; Physicochemistry of polymers; Rheology; Starch and polysaccharides; Viscometry; viscosity; Viscometry; Alginate; Flexibility of polysaccharides; Mannuronan C-5 epimerases; Rheology; Molecular rigidity; Epimer; Molecular weight viscosity relationship; Intrinsic viscosity; Alginates; Experimental study; Polyelectrolyte; Shear viscosity; Microbial origin; Ionic strength; Concentration effect; Dilute solution; Oside polymer; Dynamic viscosity; Aqueous solution; Concentrated solution
• ISSN: 0144-8617; 1879-1344
• DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2004.11.006

Both dilute and concentrated solutions of bacterial Mannuronan (MANNA) and its epimerized products by AlgE1 at 5 and 24
h, named MANNAEp1t5h and MANNAEp1t24h, respectively, and AlgE4 (MANNAEp4) have been studied as a function of variables such as polymer concentration and ionic strength (NaCl) in order to investigate the macromolecular solution properties of these innovative polyuronic acids having the same charge density but different composition and sequence of β-
d-mannuronic acid (-M-), α-
l-guluronic acid (-G-) or MG-blocks.
Measurements of intrinsic viscosity [
η] as a function of ionic strength,
I, by capillary viscometry has led to an estimate of the Smidsrød-Haug parameter
B, an index useful to characterize the stiffness of polymeric chains. The results are largely consistent with much of the published data relative to chain extension and conformational freedom around the torsional angles of the glycosidic linkages occurring in alginates.
Steady shear rheometry provided information about the coil-overlapping parameter
c*, which marks the transition from dilute to concentrated solution. The slopes of the double logarithmic plots of
η
sp vs.
c[
η] both at low and high degrees of coil overlap suggest that all samples solutions behave like linear polymer entangled network systems. The value of
c* is strictly influenced by the stiffness of the chains, and hence by the primary structure.
Dynamic shear rheometry shows that the frequency dependence of dynamic viscosity is only partially superimposable to the shear rate dependence of viscosity. Such behaviour may be ascribed to the presence of semiflexible polymeric coils in a non-totally destructured entangled state.
By solvent/non-solvent (H
2O/isopropanol) fractionation carried out on mannuronan, a set of samples with different average molecular weights and narrow polydispersities were obtained. Triple detection GPC allowed the evalutation of the Mark–Houwink–Sakurada parameters as well as of the characteristic ratio
C
∞ for one of the fractionated MANNA samples. The chain persistence length was estimated by the wormlike chain model.