Gelling of otherwise nongelable polysaccharides.

It was shown first that solutions of nongelable polysaccharides, including such practically important ones as chitosan, hyaluronate, and cyclodextrin, can be gelled by generating silica in situ via sol-gel processing. This could be done owing to a novel silica precursor that is completely water-soluble and compatible with biopolymers. The gelation was caused by mineralization of carbohydrate macromolecules, which strengthened them and provided their cross-linking.